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Article
Publication date: 7 April 2015

Gustav Jansson, Robert Lundkvist and Thomas Olofsson

This paper aims to describe how the experience feedback (EF) from building projects contributes to product platform development in house-building companies. House-building…

711

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to describe how the experience feedback (EF) from building projects contributes to product platform development in house-building companies. House-building companies seek improvements to decrease costs, improve flow and decrease variability. Industrialised concepts using predefinitions in product platforms have provided a way of storing and reusing knowledge in project-based house-building organisations. However, the innovation in platforms is mainly incremental and based on EF from implementations in projects.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative data were gathered via interviews, archival studies and observations, and analysed to identify the underlying structures used to manage the incorporation of EF during platform development. Four different EF channels were studied at one Scandinavian house-builder. The data are explained using an analytical framework based on diffusion of innovation, product platforms and EF.

Findings

EF is distributed over the value chain to improve the platform over time. By using multiple channels with differing contents, it is possible to balance client demands and variation with production efficiency. Platform development using feedback channels provides opportunities for double-loop learning. Operative work on projects and the strategic decisions made by developers continuously improve the platform through a combination of knowledge pull and push.

Originality/value

A combination of different EF channels and strategies for developing knowledge pull are shown to be essential for the incremental development of product platforms in project-based house-building organisations. The development of product platforms requires a shift away from the construction industry’s dominant project focus towards a more product-oriented view of house-building. Integrating the design phase with the supply chain enables variety but also creates a need for continuous platform development.

Details

Construction Innovation, vol. 15 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1471-4175

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Article
Publication date: 7 October 2014

Waldo Rocha Flores, Hannes Holm, Gustav Svensson and Göran Ericsson

The purpose of the study was threefold: to understand security behaviours in practice by investigating factors that may cause an individual to comply with a request posed by a…

2028

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study was threefold: to understand security behaviours in practice by investigating factors that may cause an individual to comply with a request posed by a perpetrator; to investigate if adding information about the victim to an attack increases the probability of the attack being successful; and, finally, to investigate if there is a correlation between self-reported and observed behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

Factors for investigation were identified based on a review of existing literature. Data were collected through a scenario-based survey, phishing experiments, journals and follow-up interviews in three organisations.

Findings

The results from the experiment revealed that the degree of target information in an attack increased the likelihood that an organisational employee falls victim to an actual attack. Further, an individual’s trust and risk behaviour significantly affected the actual behaviour during the phishing experiment. Computer experience at work, helpfulness and gender (females tend to be less susceptible to a generic attack than men), had a significant correlation with behaviour reported by respondents in the scenario-based survey. No correlation between the results from the scenario-based survey and the experiments was found.

Research limitations/implications

One limitation is that the scenario-based survey may have been interpreted differently by the participants. Another is that controlling how the participants reacted when receiving the phishing mail, and what actually triggered each and every participant to click on the attached link, was not possible. Data were however collected to capture these aspects during and after the experiments. In conclusion, the results do not imply that one or the other method should be ruled out, as they have both advantages and disadvantages which should be considered in the context of collecting data in the critical domain of information security.

Originality/value

Two different methods to collect data to understand security behaviours have rarely been used in previous research. Studies that add target information to understand if such information could increase the probability of attack success is sparse. This paper includes both approaches.

Details

Information Management & Computer Security, vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-5227

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Article
Publication date: 12 June 2009

Geoffrey T. Stewart, Ramesh Kolluru and Mark Smith

As noted in the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Framework, disasters are inherently local and ultimately the responsibility of the lowest jurisdictional level…

7189

Abstract

Purpose

As noted in the Department of Homeland Security's National Response Framework, disasters are inherently local and ultimately the responsibility of the lowest jurisdictional level present within the impacted area. Given these parameters, this paper aims to sharpen the concept of national resilience by recommending a framework which positions community resilience as an integral variable in understanding the ability of impacted areas to effectively manage the consequences of disasters. Conceptualized as a dependent variable, community resilience is influenced by the relationships government (public) agencies develop with private sector partners and the resilience of relevant supply chains and critical infrastructures/key resources which exist in their communities.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors augment a topical literature review of academic and practitioner journals by synthesizing existing findings into a holistic framework of community resilience.

Findings

This paper argues that interdependent systems like social and economic networks will ultimately influence the ability of communities to adapt and respond to the consequences of disasters. In addressing the resilience of these systems, all levels of government must recognize and embrace the public‐private interfaces that can improve their ability to manage the response and recovery phases of disaster management. While 85 percent of critical infrastructure is owned by the private sector, 100 percent of it exists within communities and impacts the ability of the nation to recover from disasters. Resilience calls upon active management and relies upon assessment and a willingness to take action in the face of adversity.

Originality/value

Resilience is discussed within economics, behavioral sciences, supply chain management and critical infrastructure protection. This paper integrates these research streams to develop a framework for shaping national resilience.

Details

International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, vol. 39 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0960-0035

Keywords

Available. Open Access. Open Access
Article
Publication date: 26 July 2012

Monica Blanaru, Boaz Bloch, Limor Vadas, Zahi Arnon, Naomi Ziv, Ilana Kremer and Iris Haimov

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an anxiety disorder with lifetime prevalence of 7.8%, is characterized by symptoms that develop following exposure to traumatic life events…

7796

Abstract

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an anxiety disorder with lifetime prevalence of 7.8%, is characterized by symptoms that develop following exposure to traumatic life events and that cause an immediate experience of intense fear, helplessness or horror. PTSD is marked by recurrent nightmares typified by the recall of intrusive experiences and by extended disturbance throughout sleep. Individuals with PTSD respond poorly to drug treatments for insomnia. The disadvantages of drug treatment for insomnia underline the importance of non-pharmacological alternatives. Thus, the present study had three aims: first, to compare the efficiency of two relaxation techniques (muscular relaxation and progressive music relaxation) in alleviating insomnia among individuals with PTSD using both objective and subjective measures of sleep quality; second, to examine whether these two techniques have different effects on psychological indicators of PTSD, such as depression and anxiety; and finally, to examine how initial PTSD symptom severity and baseline emotional measures are related to the efficiency of these two relaxation methods. Thirteen PTSD patients with no other major psychiatric or neurological disorders participated in the study. The study comprised one seven-day running-in, no-treatment period, followed by two seven-day experimental periods. The treatments constituted either music relaxation or muscle relaxation techniques at desired bedtime. These treatments were randomly assigned. During each of these three experimental periods, subjects' sleep was continuously monitored with a wrist actigraph (Ambulatory Monitoring, Inc.), and subjects were asked to fill out several questionnaires concerned with a wide spectrum of issues, such as sleep, depression, and anxiety. Analyses revealed a significant increase in objective and subjective sleep efficiency and a significant reduction in depression level following music relaxation. Moreover, following music relaxation, a highly significant negative correlation was found between improvement in objective sleep efficiency and reduction in depression scale. The study‘s findings provide evidence that music relaxation at bedtime can be used as treatment for insomnia among individuals with PTSD.

Details

Mental Illness, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2036-7465

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Article
Publication date: 1 April 1965

IN 1946 there was in the British Isles a clear image of librarianship in most librarians' minds. The image depended on a librarian's professional environment which was of the…

67

Abstract

IN 1946 there was in the British Isles a clear image of librarianship in most librarians' minds. The image depended on a librarian's professional environment which was of the widest possible range, not less in variation than the organisations, institutes or types of community which required library services. Generalisations are like cocoanuts but they provide for the quickest precipitation of variant definitions, after the stones have been thrown at them. A generalisation might claim that, in 1946, public librarians had in mind an image of a librarian as organiser plus technical specialist or literary critic or book selector; that university and institute librarians projected themselves as scholars of any subject with a special environmental responsibility; that librarians in industry regarded themselves as something less than but as supplementing the capacity of a subject specialist (normally a scientist). Other minor separable categories existed with as many shades of meaning between the three generalised definitions, while librarians of national libraries were too few to be subject to easy generalisation.

Details

New Library World, vol. 67 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

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Article
Publication date: 7 September 2015

Carl Gordon Obst

This paper aims to increase awareness of work on accounting for natural capital at the national and international level that has been ongoing for many years and has recently…

1351

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to increase awareness of work on accounting for natural capital at the national and international level that has been ongoing for many years and has recently culminated in the adoption of international statistical standards for environmental-economic accounting.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper provides the context for work on natural capital accounting with particular links to the measurement of progress and a brief history of the work on natural capital accounting from an official statistics perspective and summarizes the key aspects of the technical and accounting aspects of the new international statistical standards. The paper also outlines some of the limitations of the approach and required research.

Findings

The paper highlights that while natural capital accounting does not provide a complete basis for assessment of sustainable development, a broad body of work is now in place to use accounting approaches for the assessment of environmental sustainability.

Research limitations/implications

The paper observes that much of the work on natural capital accounting from the perspective of the official statistics community has not engaged the academic community and there is strong potential for collaboration to take this work forward particularly in the area of land and ecosystem accounting.

Social implications

The paper describes a framework for the organization of information on the links between environmental and economic issues and an indication of the relevance of this work for the broader measurement of progress. Compilation of data following the framework is intended to provide a broader base of information for public policy and other decisions and thus has the potential to influence social, economic and environmental outcomes.

Originality/value

The paper’s value lies in raising awareness of the work that has been developing outside of the academic community but which likely has many connections to existing research and ongoing policy discussions.

Details

Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8021

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