Journalism as a profession of conditional permeability: A case study of boundaries in a participatory online news setting

Journalistic professionalism served as a semantic tool for journalists to draw boundaries and to demarcate their profession. This research builds on Andrew Abbott’s (book The System of Professions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor, and his assessment of journalism as a ‘permeable occupation’. By way of a strategic case study of a German-language news organization, it puts forth the notion of journalism as a profession of conditional permeability in certain participatory online settings. This research traces how journalists at a case organization used professionalism to delineate their own job from two groups of interlopers in online news spaces: Community managers tasked to moderate user comments, as well as audience members who participate by way of commenting on the news. The study draws on a case study of a market leader and early adopter in community management and comment moderation – with evident limitations as far as generalization to other contexts. Journalists used concepts deeply entrenched with journalistic professionalism, such as writing skills, gatekeeping and the application of news judgment to invoke boundaries between professionals and nonprofessionals, but also acknowledged unboundedness within particular subdomains of their work. While journalists asserted control over a journalistic epistemology, practice was partly open for other professionals, such as community managers, but closed for nonprofessionals. Some identified a hierarchy of professions, with community management serving an assistant function to journalism. The concept of conditional permeability accommodates both blurred boundaries towards other professional actors and distinct boundaries towards nonprofessional actors.

Research on Key Technologies of Personalized Intervention for Chronic Diseases Based on Case-Based Reasoning

In recent years, with the acceleration of industrialization, urbanization, and aging process, the number of patients with chronic diseases in the world is increasing year by year. In China, the number of chronic diseases has increased tenfold in 10 years. The percentage of the disease burden in the whole society accounts for 79.4%. Chronic diseases have become the top killer for Chinese people’s health. However, for chronic diseases, prevention is more important than treatment. It is the best way to keep healthy. Therefore, health intervention is the key to prevent chronic diseases. Especially now, with the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, reducing the times of hospital check-ups and treatments for chronic patients is practically significant for releasing the stress on medical staffs and decreasing the rate of transmission and infection of COVID-19. In this paper, case-based reasoning (CBR) technology is used to assist personalized intervention for chronic diseases, and the key technologies of personalized intervention for chronic diseases based on case-based reasoning are proposed. The case organization, case retrieval, and case retention techniques of CBR technology in chronic disease personalized intervention are designed, and the calculation of interclass dispersion is added to the distribution of feature words, which is used to describe the distribution of feature attributes in different categories of cases. It provides an effective method for the establishment of personalized intervention model for chronic disease.

Case-based Instruction for Leadership Learning in the Norwegian National School Leadership Program

This article focuses on the use of case-based instruction in the National School Leadership Program offered by universities in Norway. The research addresses the following research question: How can case-based instruction promote leadership learning when used in school leadership programs? The study demonstrates case-based instruction’s ability to create promising learning possibilities for leadership learning. Hence, to effectively use case-based instruction in formal school leadership programs, there is a need for more empirical research on case-based instruction in practice, especially related to case content, case organization and facilitation, case analysis, case application, and linking case-based instruction to authentic learning in schools.

Assessment of Organizational Agility in Software Projects

In the current context of business, agility refers to the dynamic capability of an organization to adapt itself to market and industry demands in a productive and cost-effective manner. Organizational Agility focuses on both stability and dynamism, is more people centric in its approach towards efficient output through faster decision cycles and leveraging technology to manage risks and produce the desired output for its customers. This paper aims at evaluating the organizational agility level from the perspective of people and culture in a software project organization using the multi-grade fuzzy approach. Findings from the case study indicate that the case organization agility index is 6.79 which specifies as ‘agile’. Importance Performance Analysis is used to identify the weaker attributes of case organization. Furthermore, recommendations for the improvisation of weaker attributes of the case organization are discussed.

Biased by design – the case of horizontal accountability in a hybrid organization

PurposeThis study examines unexplored horizontal accountability types between public, private and third sector actors within a hybrid organization. The case organization was applying a novel alliance model to generate service paths for heterogeneous clientele consuming cultural, educational, health and social services. It was first to do so in Finland.Design/methodology/approachThis research is on a case study that used documents and interviews to examine the design of the horizontal accountability. The descriptive analysis focused on identifying what type of formal accountability system was designed (i.e. who is the account holder, and who is accountable and for what and why).FindingsAn imbalanced accountability system was identified because accountability obligations were unevenly distributed between public, private and third sector actors. The private sector was the most accountable for performance, and the third sector (i.e. voluntary sector) was the least accountable. As account holders, the public, private and third sector actors were judging their conduct as account providers. This created a biased horizontal accountability system. The hybrid's accountability system was dynamic because the contracts made to establish the hybrid included opportunities to change horizontal accountability if future changes to the external environment affect too drastically the potential to achieve the hybrid's goals.Originality/valueThree new concepts are proposed for studying dysfunctional accountability systems: dynamic, biased and horizontally imbalanced accountability.

Development and validation of DMAIC based framework for process improvement: a case study of Indian manufacturing organization

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop and validate an extended Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control (DMAIC) based framework through a case study of an Indian fasteners manufacturing organization.Design/methodology/approachResearch methodology is established on the development of the existing DMAIC framework through an extensive literature review of 25 LSS/DMAIC based frameworks and discussions held with practitioners. This paper also depicts a case study of Indian manufacturing organization for validation of the developed framework.FindingsThe study proposed an extended DMAIC based framework for effective implementation of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodology. Furthermore, this framework has been implemented successfully in the Indian manufacturing organization and showed encouraging results. The in-house rejections of Nut Cylinder Head (NCH) were brought down to 966 from 2910 PPM and sigma level was improved by 0.40. The case organization has achieved significant improvements in the process capability, customer satisfaction, and cost savings of US$ 0.25 million in one financial year. Intangible benefits like improvements in employee's morale, communication, housekeeping and decision-making capabilities were also observed significantly.Practical implicationsThe proposed DMAIC based framework has been implemented successfully in the Indian case organization, and the results will enable the policymakers, specifically practitioners, to strategically leverage the resources for successful implementation of the LSS in healthcare, aerospace, service sectors etc.Originality/valueThis research develops a DMAIC based framework which can be used to implement LSS effectively in different industries. Moreover, the pre (initial/introduction) and post (validation/verification) implementation phase provides the top management, an edge to think strategically into broader improvement areas.

An Approach to Assess Sustainable Supply Chain Agility for a Manufacturing Organization

Worldwide business organizations realize that agility of sustainable supply-chain is a requisite need for survival in a dynamic, competitive, and unpredictable market. The contribution of this research is to explore and evaluate sustainable agility in supply chains for a dairy manufacturing organization located in Saudi Arabia. Other contributions of this research are to update the literature about the different factors contributing to achieve agile supply chain, propose conceptual framework and assessment approach incorporating the relationships between sustainable supply-chain capabilities, enablers, and attributes, and shortlisting the agility barriers and how they would facilitate manufacturing organizations’ performance. The paper presents supply chain agility evaluation approach, which covers identification of agile supply-chain capabilities and drivers. It also presents a conceptual model and a framework to define agility level and barriers within the supply-chain. In the paper, fuzzy logic approach is preferred, owing to its capability to incorporate and deal with problems involving impreciseness and vagueness phenomena. Threshold-value in this study for the case organization is set to 0.24829. The outcome of the adopted approach indicates that 21 attributes performed below the threshold value; these attributes are further categorized as agility barriers. These are the barriers within their supply chain that impact the agility-level. For the case organization, the foremost priority is to enhance maintainability and serviceability to make it flexible and inexpensive to establish an agile responsive supply chain. At the same time, it should have priority to focus on development and integration of their core competencies to deal with cross-functional and cross-enterprise issues in supply chain. For the case organization, the agility level was found “very agile,” although it is below the “extremely agile.” Thus, a study was developed to understand the behaviour of the supply chain agility and assess/evaluate it to support decision makers in order to develop a strategic solution for different organizational barriers.

The returning butterflies: Social entrepreneurs and sustainability in ecotourism

This article is based on a field study of adventure ecotourism in Nepal, and aims to explore how social entrepreneurs operationalize and practice sustainable development in this field. The qualitative data material was analyzed from a critical hermeneutical approach. The article reviews views of currently discussed, multi-dimensional sustainability models representing the idea that sustainability can be developed with an eye to the dynamics between society, the environment, and economy. These dimensions of sustainability were brought into the analysis of the case organization, offering empirical practice perspectives on: the articulation of fundamental values put into action; efforts towards ecology; and the involvement of the local community. All of these have an emphasis on education as a tool for change. Based on examples and critical insight into current sustainability models, the article concludes: that it is of central importance to the case study organization to find a balance between the dimensions; that they are interconnected; and that one aspect of this implies viewing economy as a means rather than an end in itself.

Remanufacturing supply chain: an analysis of performance indicator areas

PurposeRe-use of products in the supply chain has become a significant consideration in the last decade. It has resulted in the development of several product recovery alternatives. Remanufacturing in the supply chain is one such product recovery option that yields social, economic and environmental benefits. This study aims is to identify and evaluate the key performance indicators (KPIs) of the remanufacturing supply chain (RSC).Design/methodology/approachThe KPIs of RSC are classified along with the five primary management processes (plan, source, make, deliver and return) of the supply chain operations reference (SCOR) model. A grey decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) technique is applied to investigate the complex interrelationships amongst the identified KPIs and categorize them into cause and effect group. The applicability of the proposed framework is demonstrated through a case organization involved in remanufacturing business.FindingsThe KPIs are identified based on literature analysis and subsequent discussion with decision panel experts. The present research work results reveal that “consumer awareness program”, “technological compatibility” and skilled workforce' are the most influential indicators.Originality/valueThis research work provides a framework to evaluate the causal relationship between the RSC KPIs. The framework proposed in this study is empirically applied to a case organization. Based on the study findings some important recommendations are presented to the decision-makers/policy planners to help them develop an action plan. This would help the case organization reduce resource consumption, increase market share and enable sustainable development.

Emerging trends and impact of business intelligence & analytics in organizations: Case studies from India

Business Intelligence & Analytics (BI&A) has an increasing impact on decision making and business performance within most organizations today. These organizations regularly invest in resources required for BI&A. What is the impact of this investment? Which functions of the business does BI&A impact? Are there any trends seen in the usage and effectiveness of BI&A? Are these trends different across organizations with different levels of BI&A capability maturity? The purpose of this study was to discover patterns in the usage and effectiveness of BI&A across organizations which are at different levels of BI&A maturity. In the first phase of the study, the data sample was taken from 145 organizations in India. It was analyzed using the data mining technique – k-means clustering. The organizations were grouped into six clusters based on factors influencing BI&A capability maturity. In the second phase of the study, one case organization is taken from each cluster to gain deeper insights. In-depth interviews were conducted with a respondent from each case organization to understand the state of BI&A, the usage and effectiveness of BI&A. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis method in NVIVO 12 plus. The study identified the key characteristics which represented the state of BI&A capability maturity in the organization cluster. Findings show that groups of organization which had higher maturity of BI&A capability were using BI&A across larger number of functional areas and also experiencing the effectiveness of BI&A in more areas than the organizations which had lower maturity of BI&A capability.