Search results

Rapidly changing business conditions make it difficult to see the future with any degree of certainty. Consequently, many firms have undertaken a thorough self‐examination and reworking of procedures and methods to position themselves to compete in the global marketplace of the 1990s. A crucial element in the changing and improving processes is raising the quality of the product or service the firm provides. Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems has a vested interest in changing to meet the new requirements of the aerospace industry and decided to re‐evaluate its business practices, with the goal of increasing productivity while simultaneously increasing quality. Management decided to conduct a large‐scale quality survey throughout the company to understand the company’s current level of quality and the quality perceptions among employees. Reports on the results of that study, with a brief description of the development of the quality survey instrument and the information discovered during the data analysis.

Risk is an inherent component of business transactions. Today's flattened business organisations are forcing strategic, risk‐related decisions farther down the organisational hierarchy (Richards et.al., 1996). Therefore, every business decision maker has to become proficient at factoring risk into the decision‐making process. How the risk level of the transaction affects the decision maker and the eventual decision is a function of that person's risk propensity. For senior managers in those flattened organisations facing the necessity of having less‐senior individuals making strategic decisions, the attitudes of those individuals toward risk is extremely important.

Human space exploration to date has been limited to low Earth orbit and the moon. The International Space Station (ISS) provides a unique opportunity for researchers to prove out the technologies that will enable humans to safely live and work in space for longer periods and venture farther into the solar system. The ability to manufacture parts in-space rather than launch them from earth represents a fundamental shift in the current risk and logistics paradigm for human space exploration. The purpose of this mission is to prove out the fused deposition modeling (FDM) process in the microgravity environment, evaluate microgravity effects on the materials manufactured, and provide the first demonstration of on-demand manufacturing for space exploration.

In 2014, NASA, in cooperation with Made in Space, Inc., launched a 3D printer to the ISS with the goal of evaluating the effect of microgravity on the fused deposition modeling (FDM) process and prove out the technology for use on long duration, long endurance missions where it could leveraged to reduce logistics requirements and enhance crew safety by enabling a rapid response capability. This paper presents the results of testing of the first phase of prints from the technology demonstration mission, where 21 parts where printed on orbit and compared against analogous specimens produced using the printer prior to its launch to ISS.

Mechanical properties, dimensional variations, structural differences and chemical composition for ground and flight specimens are reported. Hypotheses to explain differences observed in ground and flight prints are also developed. Phase II print operations, which took place in June and July of 2016, and ground-based studies using a printer identical to the hardware on ISS, will serve to answer remaining questions about the phase I data set. Based on Phase I analyses, operating the FDM process in microgravity has no substantive effect on the material produced.

Demonstrates that there is no discernable, engineering significant effect on operation of FDM in microgravity. Implication is that material characterization activities for this application can be ground-based.

Summary of results of testing of parts from the first operation of 3D printing in a microgravity environment.

The work of David John Farmer has been recognized as critical to the Public Policy and Administration canon. Its impact has been far-reaching both geographically because of its international application and theoretically because of the vast array of public administration challenges it can help resolve. This paper uses the concepts of rhizomatic thinking and reflexive interpretation to describe Farmerʼs work. And because a critical piece of Farmerʼs work is a bridging of the gap between theory and practice, it formally introduces Farmerʼs research approach as Farmerʼs Method. This article is intended to serve as a useful tool for students, practitioners, and theorists in understanding the vast contributions of David John Farmer and the practical application of his work.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of organizational culture on open government reforms by developing a theoretical framework bridging the theory and practice gap.

An exploratory qualitative study consisting of a document analysis and a case study was conducted.

An open organizational culture is a precursor to effective open government. A network strategy as a facilitator for developing an open culture was used in one US federal agency, breaking across boundaries within the organization, creating greater symmetrical horizontal and vertical openness.

Much of the focus in both theory and practice has been on the use of technology as a vehicle to increase government openness. This study argues that a movement toward openness is beyond the technical. Organizational culture is a key to openness and may need to be changed. A networks strategy may be one way to facilitate a transformation to a more open culture.

The most significant event for the School has been the announcement of the creation of the National Centre for Management Research and Development. The Centre is due to open in 1986 and will provide research facilities for up to 20 major projects designed to improve the competitiveness of Canadian business practices.

“I'll make what haste I can to be gone.”But haste with me tends to be slow. If you're a speed reader, I may just, like Groucho said in “Duck Soup”, leave “in a minute and a huff”. At least in a huff.

The psychological analysis of strategic management issues has gained a great deal of momentum in recent years. Much can be learned by entering the black box of strategic thinking of senior executives and bring new insights on how they see, make sense of, and interpret their everyday strategic experiences. This chapter will focus on a powerful cognitive mapping tool called the Repertory Grid Technique and demonstrate how it has been used in the strategy literature along with how a new and more refined application of the technique can enhance the elicitation of complex strategic cognitions for strategy and Board of Directors research.

The resource-based view of the firm and strategic groups research are two of the most investigated frameworks in strategic management. Historically, assumptions behind these two views have seemingly put them at odds. The resource-based view of the firm argues that sustained competitive advantage is best attained when firms have unique resources, while strategic groups research argues that a number of firms within the same industry can achieve sustained profitability with strategies that are similar to one another, but distinct from other industry members. The two views focus on different levels of analysis and each largely ignores the other’s focal level. Yet neither offers any propositions that are incompatible with the tenets of the other. Thus, conceptual integration that crosses levels of analysis is possible and potentially fruitful. Indeed, some strategic groups research has begun to bridge the gap between these two theories by suggesting that firm differences exist both within and between strategic groups. This article adopts a multi-level view by developing propositions concerning contingencies when firm differences, group processes, or both may lead to sustained competitive advantage. Implications for practitioners as well as suggestions for future theory building and empirical tests are also discussed.