Chiara Carnazzo, Stefania Spada, Sebastiano Lamacchia, Federico Manuri, Andrea Sanna and Maria Pia Cavatorta
Preventive ergonomics is essential to protecting the health and safety of workers as is recognizing human variability. The purpose of this paper is to describe a Unity-based…
Abstract
Purpose
Preventive ergonomics is essential to protecting the health and safety of workers as is recognizing human variability. The purpose of this paper is to describe a Unity-based application designed for three-dimensional postural analysis and visualizations using motion capture data. Integration with virtual reality (VR) technologies allows the user to be immersed in the simulated working environment without the need for a physical prototype. The proposed application aims to facilitate the application of ergonomic principles in workplace design and assessment for a proactive, participatory and inclusive approach to worker well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed an application that leverages motion capturing techniques and VR technologies and aims to support the analysts in the ergonomic assessment of physical prototypes as well as future workplaces. An innovative postural prediction module helps the analyst understanding what postures different users are likely to assume in the interaction with the workplace from a single data record.
Findings
The functionalities of the proposed application are illustrated on some case studies, presenting how different information is made available and can support workplace analysts and designers in an industrial context.
Originality/value
This paper provides insights into the experience and research carried out by an automotive company in the application of wearable sensors and VR to support a proactive and participatory approach to workplace ergonomics.
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Russell Wordsworth, Colin Michael Hall, Girish Prayag and Sanna Malinen
Natural disasters and other crises present methodological challenges to organizational researchers. While these challenges are well canvassed in the literature, less attention has…
Abstract
Natural disasters and other crises present methodological challenges to organizational researchers. While these challenges are well canvassed in the literature, less attention has been paid to understanding how distinct crisis events may present, not only unique challenges, but also important opportunities for research. In this chapter, we draw on our collective experience of conducting post-earthquake research and compare this with the COVID-19 pandemic context in order to identify and discuss the inherent vulnerabilities associated with disaster studies and the subsequent methodological challenges and opportunities that researchers might encounter. Adopting a critical perspective, the chapter grapples with some of the more contentious issues associated with research in a disaster and crisis context including aspects of stakeholder engagement, ethics, reciprocity, inequality, and vulnerability.
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Andreas Scherm, Bernhard Hirsch, Matthias Sohn and Miriam Maske
Research on biases in investment decision-making is indubitably important; however, studies in this context are relatively scarce. Unpacking bias has received attention in the…
Abstract
Purpose
Research on biases in investment decision-making is indubitably important; however, studies in this context are relatively scarce. Unpacking bias has received attention in the psychological literature yet very little attention from management accounting research. This bias suggests that the perceived probability that an event will occur generally increases when the event's description is unpacked into a disjunction of subevents. The authors hypothesize that for a capital investment decision context, managers' judgement of the probability of a future event depends on whether the event is described as one packed event or is unpacked into several disjoint subevents. Additionally, the authors propose that altering the format of the description of an event's occurrence from percentage values to relative frequencies reduces unpacking bias.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the study’s hypotheses, the authors conducted two experiments based on a 3 × 2 mixed experimental design in which manager participants were asked to estimate the failure probabilities of technical systems in the context of an investment decision.
Findings
The authors provide evidence that unpacking bias occurs in an investment scenario, which can be characterized as a high-stakes decision context. Changing the format in which probabilities are presented from percentage values to relative frequencies significantly reduces the bias.
Research limitations/implications
Additional instructions did not further reduce unpacking bias.
Practical implications
For investment decisions under uncertainty, performance indicators in management templates should be presented in relative frequencies to improve managerial decision-making. The fact that the authors could not show an additional effect of instructions in management accounting reports indicates that it is challenging for management accountants to reduce the biased decision-making of managers by “teaching” them through the provision of instructions.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to accounting research by illustrating unpacking bias and by deriving a debiasing mechanism in a capital investment decision context.
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Khiam Jin Lee, Sanna K. Malinen and Venkataraman Nilakant
This study examines challenges to cross-sector collaboration in disasters. The authors use Malaysian flooding as the context for the study and offer a framework to understand…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines challenges to cross-sector collaboration in disasters. The authors use Malaysian flooding as the context for the study and offer a framework to understand different types of collaborators in disaster settings.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected with semi-structured interviews, complemented with secondary data from government documents and news reports. The authors interviewed a total of 30 participants including six disaster aid recipients and 24 strategic and operational participants from 12 disaster management organizations. Thematic analysis was conducted including two cycles of coding, memoing and constant comparisons.
Findings
The authors present two key theoretical contributions: key barriers to cross-sector collaboration and a typology of collaboration in disasters. Key barriers include leadership approach and central vs local decision-making, differing levels of motivation to collaborate and the organizations' ability to collaborate in disasters. Despite these barriers, collaboration does occur in disaster settings. The authors suggest that the forms of collaboration may be driven primarily by differing motivations to collaborate and differing perceptions of others’ ability to collaborate, resulting in four types of collaboration: (1) enthusiastic, (2) mandate-driven, (3) reluctant and (4) non-collaboration.
Originality/value
The authors show that although the command-and-control model was dominant, organizations also attempted to improve disaster management efficacy through collaborative approaches. Central institutional agencies and their wider external partners are capable of using cross-sector collaboration as a strategy to tackle the complex problems post-disaster. However, pre-disaster relationship building will likely help organizations to collaborate more effectively when a disaster occurs.