Jian Liu, Peng Liu, Sifeng Liu, Yizhong Ma and Wensheng Yang
Process mining provides a new means to improve processes in a variety of application domains. The purpose of this paper is to abstract a process model and then use the discovered…
Abstract
Purpose
Process mining provides a new means to improve processes in a variety of application domains. The purpose of this paper is to abstract a process model and then use the discovered models from process mining to make useful optimization via predictions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper divides the process model into a combination of “pair-adjacent activities” and “pair-adjacent persons” in the event logs. First, two new handover process models based on adjacency matrix are proposed. Second, by adding the stage, frequency, and time for every activity or person into the matrix, another two new handover prediction process models based on stage adjacency matrix are further proposed. Third, compute the conditional probability from every stage to next stage through the frequency. Finally, use real data to analyze and demonstrate the practicality and effectiveness of the proposed handover optimization process.
Findings
The process model can be extended with information to predict what will actually happen, how possible to reach the next activity, who will do this activity, and the corresponding probability if there are several people executing the same activity, etc.
Originality/value
The contribution of this paper is to predict what will actually happen, how possible it is to reach the following activities or persons in the next stage, how soon to reach the following activities or persons by calculating all the possible interval time via different traces, who will do this activity, and the corresponding probability if there are several people executing the same activity, etc.
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The arrival of cheap video equipment would seem to have opened up a whole range of methodological opportunities for the social scientist, especially the sociologist. The poor…
Abstract
The arrival of cheap video equipment would seem to have opened up a whole range of methodological opportunities for the social scientist, especially the sociologist. The poor quality, expense and time-consuming clumsiness of film has over the last ten years been replaced with a flexible and easy to use technology, cheaply available in the high street that enables the researcher to record social action “au naturel.” As a social researcher who has been seduced by this opportunity I would like to comment on the process from the experience of a recent project. Without the breadth of experience to offer anything like a systematic methodology for using video in the social sciences, what I hope to do in this piece is to raise methodological issues that affect every research method but which take on a different quality with visual data. It is remarkable how little film and video data feature within the social sciences. Because of the capability of capturing the visible and hearable actions and interactions of people going about their ordinary life, it would seem to provide a rich source of data for those social scientists interested in studying local social situations. The flow and pattern of life as it is lived is recorded and retained in the moving picture with sound, to become available for close study and multiple replays. The action can be frozen, slowed down and instances separated in time and place easily compared.
Lorenzo Massa, Federica Farneti and Beatrice Scappini
– The aim of this study is to shed light on the mechanisms involved in, and consequences of, developing a sustainability report in a small to medium enterprise.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to shed light on the mechanisms involved in, and consequences of, developing a sustainability report in a small to medium enterprise.
Design/methodology/approach
Action research is used to provide insights into the initial stages of the development of the sustainability report and its consequences. “Mike” is an Italian small organisation with a sustainability orientation selling products and services about wellness and health. It decided to develop a sustainability report in 2013.
Findings
The authors find that the organisation’s initial aim to report on its sustainability later extended beyond disclosure to using the information to enhance its sustainable development approach and awareness, consider long-term planning, support strategy-making based on the sustainable development concept and establish and enhance its reputation.
Research limitations/implications
This research is limited to the analysis of only one small Italian organisation and as such cannot claim generalisability of its findings.
Practical implications
The findings indicate that the sustainability initiative of this organisation, while originally focussed on reporting, evolved into strategy and planning. Managers in similar organisations may learn from this experience to focus on strategy-making and social and environmental value creation.
Originality/value
The study examines sustainability reporting in the previously overlooked area of small and medium enterprises.
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Dianne Sundby and C. Brooklyn Derr
The purpose of this paper is to present a retrospective of the career life of Michael Driver, from the time of his Princeton graduate studies and early faculty years at Purdue…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a retrospective of the career life of Michael Driver, from the time of his Princeton graduate studies and early faculty years at Purdue University through the over three decades he spent at USC.
Design/methodology/approach
The history and development of his theoretical and research interests are presented, as well as the many contributions he made to both management consulting and the education of MBA students. His 1970s role in the founding and development of the Careers Division of the Academy of Management and his contributions to career research are highlighted and illuminate one of the critical periods in the renewal of the field. His orientation towards complexity and integration stand out as characteristics that positively impact theory building and research.
Findings
Michael Driver's career life was one of depth, scope, growth, and continuity. As a humanist, he would want us to not only continue our pursuits to better understand the complexities of human behavior, but to integrate them into something more meaningful.
Originality/value
This retrospective provides insight into the history and development of Mike Driver's theoretical and research interests and underscores his many contributions. The essay also highlights the history of career studies during the renewal period of the 1970s and 1980s. Hopefully, Mike Driver's legacy will inspire younger scholars to extend the field and carry it forward.
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Bertrand Fauré, François Cooren and Frédérik Matte
The purpose of this paper is to extend the literature on accounting’s performativity by developing a ventriloquial perspective that directs the attention to the reciprocity…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to extend the literature on accounting’s performativity by developing a ventriloquial perspective that directs the attention to the reciprocity between the accounting signs and the accountants: they both do things by making each other speak. This oscillation explains where accounting number’s authority, materiality and resistance come from.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to show the relevance of this approach, the authors examine various ways numbers manage to speak or do things in the context of video-recorded conversations taken from fieldwork completed with Médecins sans frontières (also known as Doctors without Borders) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Findings
The analyses show how this ventriloquial perspective can inform the way the authors interpret what happens: when numbers do not say the same thing; when numbers are competing with other figures; and when numbers backfire on their own promoters.
Research limitations/implications
Even if some of the numbers studied are sometimes far from accounting per se, it shows how the absence or presence of accounting can make a difference.
Practical implications
The authors then discuss the implications of this research for accounting social innovation through accounting inscriptions.
Social implications
This perspective helps to understand that numbers can give great power, but that everything cannot be told with numbers. This is why making numbers speak is a great talent.
Originality/value
This refreshing perspective on accounting could be extended to other fields such as auditing and auditing.
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Abstract
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The investigations relate to concerns that Trump abused his office by seeking to have a political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, investigated by Ukraine, which Trump…
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DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB247699
ISSN: 2633-304X
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Topical
One of the reasons for the dramatic growth of the mini‐computer market is the realisation on the part of retail managements in both small and large companies that this type of…
Abstract
One of the reasons for the dramatic growth of the mini‐computer market is the realisation on the part of retail managements in both small and large companies that this type of equipment is versatile, powerful and relatively cheap. In this article Mike Eccles defines a mini, discusses the problems of buying and selection, and examines some specific retail applications. The author is a management consultant with Gil Jones & Associates, specialising in management information systems for retail organisations. He has recently been engaged in a programme of research into the growing importance of the mini‐computer in retailing. His findings will be published in full later this year in a Report. Mike Eccles will be presenting a paper on this subject at the forthcoming OnLine Conference on Retail Data Processing, to be held in London on June 2–3.