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This aim of this work is to investigate different modelling approaches for air-cooled data centres. The study employs three computational methods, which are based on finite element, finite volume and lattice Boltzmann methods and which are respectively implemented via commercial Multiphysics software, open-source computational fluid dynamics code and graphical processing unit-based code developed by the authors. The results focus on comparison of the three methods, all of which include models for turbulence, when applied to two rows of datacom racks with cool air supplied via an underfloor plenum.

This paper studies thermal airflows in a data centre by applying different numerical simulation techniques that are able to analyse the thermal airflow distribution for a simplified layout of datacom racks in the presence of a computer room air conditioner.

Good quantitative agreement between the three methods is seen in terms of the inlet temperatures to the datacom equipment. The computational methods are contrasted in terms of application to thermal management of data centres.

The work demonstrates how the different simulation techniques applied to thermal management of airflow in a data centre can provide valuable design and operational understanding. Basing the analysis on three very different computational approaches is new and would offer an informed understanding of their potential for a class of problems.

Effective operations management systems (OMS) measurement remains a critical issue for theorists and practising managers (Neely, 2005; Bititci et al., 2012). Traditional labor efficiency measures sufficed when all that was made could be sold or when mass production systems filled warehouses with stock and the OMS had little relationship with “the consumer.” Modern manufacturing systems require a different form of flow optimization (beyond labor efficiency) measurement (Schmenner, 2015). The essential unit of measure for all OMS designs is the optimal use of time for process value adding and the flow of materials into and from the conversion process. Timely flow, therefore, satisfies the needs of multiple organizational stakeholders including cash flow (accounting), consumer reaction times (marketing) and the general steady state flow of materials (sales and supply chain). The purpose of this paper is to present the results of testing a new performance measure of operations flow effectiveness (OFE) with ten purposively selected cases.

The paper is theory building using ten, purposively selected, longitudinal case studies drawn from the UK high-value manufacturing (HVM) sector using a pluralist methodology of interviews, observation and secondary data.

The OFE measure provides a holistic view of material flow through the input-process-output cycles of a firm. The measure highlights OMS design weaknesses and flow inhibitors that reduce cash flow using a time-based approach to measuring OMS performance. The study validates the OFE measure and has identified six key design elements that enable high flow performance.

The paper tests a new process-focused flow performance measure. The measure supports a holistic approach to the manufacturing enterprise and allows different OMS designs to be evaluated so that organizational learning may be enacted to support performance improvement.

THE Conservative Government elected on June 18th last has lost no time in putting into practice its avowed principle of reducing direct taxation. Late in July it flew a kite through an inspired leak showing that it intended to save millions on education, one small part of which would be £10 million, purporting to be “saved” by making readers pay for books borrowed through public libraries. First indications of this were in a story included in The Guardian, Daily Telegraph and other papers, and as this story was not denied by the Government, the Library Association thought it proper to issue a press statement immediately, with the message that the Association was totally opposed to the introduction of such charges.

The purpose of this paper is to address theory development in the context of Russia, where insights holding potential to advance knowledge sharing theory are ubiquitous. Drawing on contextual evidence, the paper aims to advance a theoretical framework for the study of knowledge sharing, an activity essential for the organizational change and development required for building competitiveness. It also aims to outline research needs that might both provide insight in Russia and also enrich extant theory originally developed in the West.

The paper presents a review of the theory of planned behavior, its application to knowledge sharing, and the cultural environment suggest modifications that contextualize the theory for studying knowledge sharing in Russia and in other contexts.

Propositions based on contextual considerations in Russia are advanced as a means of modifying and augmenting the theory of planned behavior to better address knowledge sharing more comprehensively across contexts.

The paper provides suggestions for testing the propositions, and offers additional research directions and considerations that might guide inquiry into knowledge sharing.

Knowledge hoarding is a concern of all managers, particularly in Russia. The research enabled by the efforts here might improve practice by identifying impediments to knowledge sharing, and inform successful intervention to improve the likelihood of accomplishing organizational initiatives in both Russian firms and in foreign entities operating in Russia.

The paper emphasizes the value of theoretical approaches that cross‐fertilize emic and etic perspectives on theory development by using contextual enhancement of the theory of planned behavior through inclusion of cultural values and interpersonal behaviors related to knowledge sharing/hoarding that are pervasive in Russia. This kind of double‐loop theorizing is a means of leveraging management research across contexts. Based on the refined and extended theory of planned behavior, a research agenda for studying knowledge sharing is offered that describes methodological and content considerations that might benefit management theory in Russia and in the West.

This study aims to demonstrate the importance of recognizing stress in the workplace. Accurate novel objective methods that use electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure brainwaves can promote employee well-being. However, using these devices can be positive and potentially harmful as manipulative practices undermine autonomy.

Emphasis is placed on business ethics as it relates to the ethics of action in terms of positive and negative responsibility, autonomous decision-making and self-determined work through a literature review. The concept of relational autonomy provides an orientation toward heteronomous employment relationships.

First, using digital devices to recognize stress and promote health can be a positive outcome, expanding the definition of digital well-being as opposed to dependency, non-use or reduction. Second, the transfer of socio-relational autonomy, according to Oshana, enables criteria for self-determined work in heteronomous employment relationships. Finally, the deployment and use of such EEG-based devices for stress detection can lead to coercion and manipulation, not only in interpersonal relationships, but also directly and more subtly through the technology itself, interfering with self-determined work.

Stress at work and EEG-based devices measuring stress have been discussed in numerous articles. This paper is one of the first to explore ethical considerations using these brain–computer interfaces from an employee perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the NPD performance success measures that manufacturing organisations use to assess the success of their new products.

Based on relevant literature review and in-depth interviews, a structured questionnaire was developed as a primary data collection method. Questionnaires were distributed to a sample of 558 manufacturing organisations in Jordan, out of which 355 were returned and valid for the analysis. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were applied to reveal NPD performance success measures dimensions.

This study empirically showed that manufacturing organisations in Jordan use a multidimensional construct for NPD performance success measures to assess the success of their new products. The multidimensional construct consists of NPD financial performance, NPD internal learning, NPD capabilities improvement, NPD knowledge sharing and NPD marketing performance. The findings indicate that NPD financial performance is still the dominant dimension amongst the manufacturing organisations while measuring NDP performance. Also, the study has developed an inductive model of NPD performance success measures which shows the construct’s dimensions complexity.

The fact that the paper is a single country study focusing on the manufacturing industry limits its generalisation to other industries/contexts. The paper’s focus on manufacturing organisations limits its contribution to the manufacturing sector. The services sector is a rich field for NPD performance success measures, in addition to being an important contributor to the economy of most, if not all, countries. Further, the paper focuses on only five dimensions of NPD performance success measures, other dimensions of NPD performance success measures might add more insights to their effect on NPD performance success measures.

Utilising the findings of this study can help managers make sense of NPD success and failure and plan the NPD strategy and activities across a range of differing situations. The major contribution of this study is increasing the ability of managers to improve their skills and capabilities and focus on the dimensions of NPD success in the best way that enables them to respond effectively to uncertainty caused by changes in the product life cycle which in turn might affect the performance of NPD. The findings urge managers to deal with NPD as a complex process that should be integrated within corporate, business and functional strategies of the firm.

The originality of this paper stems from its multidimensional construct of NPD performance success measures as well as in developing an inductive model that shows the complexity of NPD performance dimensions that can be used for assessing the success of new products. The study also has its originality since it is the first empirical work conducted on the manufacturing sector in an emerging market business environment, Jordan.