Graduate students of the University of New England (U.N.E.) during the period 1970–1984 wrote one hundred dissertations on morale in a wide variety of educational institutions…
Abstract
Graduate students of the University of New England (U.N.E.) during the period 1970–1984 wrote one hundred dissertations on morale in a wide variety of educational institutions. The Staff Morale Questionnaire (S.M.Q.) developed and progressively refined at U.N.E. was extensively used in these and other studies in Australia. The project's greatest value lay in the way it enabled external (i.e. off‐campus) students to develop their academic critical abilities in a guided research effort, and in the ripple effect which has enabled numerous administrators in Australian schools to gain some sensitisation to and understanding of the importance of organisational morale.
Wiem Khlif, Hanêne Ben-Abdallah and Nourchène Elleuch Ben Ayed
Restructuring a business process (BP) model may enhance the BP performance and improve its understandability. So-far proposed restructuring methods use either refactoring which…
Abstract
Purpose
Restructuring a business process (BP) model may enhance the BP performance and improve its understandability. So-far proposed restructuring methods use either refactoring which focuses on structural aspects, social network discovery which uses semantic information to guide the affiliation process during its analysis, or social network rediscovery which uses structural information to identify clusters of actors according to their relationships. The purpose of this paper is to propose a hybrid method that exploits both the semantic and structural aspects of a BP model.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed method first generates a social network from the BP model. Second, it applies hierarchical clustering to determine the performers’ partitions; this step uses the social context which specifies features related to performers, and two new distances that account for semantic and structural information. Finally, it applies a set of behavioral and organizational restructuring rules adapted from the graph optimization domain; each rule uses the identified performers’ partitions and the business context to reduce particular quality metrics.
Findings
The efficiency of the proposed method is illustrated through well-established complexity metrics. The illustration is made through the development of a tool that fully supports the proposed method and proposes a strategy for the application of the restructuring rules.
Originality/value
The proposed method has the merit of combining the semantic and structural aspects of a Business Process Modeling Notation model to identify restructuring operations whose ordered application reduces the complexity of the initial model.
Details
Keywords
FOREWORD COMMUNICATION OF IDEAS and data leads to dross‐pollination in research, which can be as important as the bench work itself. Channels of communication are now highly…
Abstract
FOREWORD COMMUNICATION OF IDEAS and data leads to dross‐pollination in research, which can be as important as the bench work itself. Channels of communication are now highly developed and the growth of specialized symposia and conferences points to the continuing development of this important aspect of research. Those who move about meetings regularly can acquire a balanced understanding of what is going on in the many corners where research is being prosecuted. Those who make a habit of combing, methodically, the technical press can also arrive at some idea of the direction and speed of the currents flowing through a particular subject. There are, however, many technical men who find themselves too busy in their management sphere to keep abreast with either meetings or the scientific journals.
In the North Hiding of Yorkshire a number of samples of lardine were examined during the second quarter. Four of these samples contained water to the extent of 24, 25, and 26 per…
Abstract
In the North Hiding of Yorkshire a number of samples of lardine were examined during the second quarter. Four of these samples contained water to the extent of 24, 25, and 26 per cent. respectively. One case was taken into court, but the magistrates dismissed the information. They were of opinion that there being no statutory standard for lardine they could not fix the percentage of water that was permissible. An appeal was made to the High Court, and eventually the case was referred back to the magistrates to determine whether or not there was adulteration.
Jonathan Miller-Lane and Greg Selove
The importance of learning how to disagree constructively has long been valued as a fundamental aspect of democratic life. Yet, while well-known discussion methodologies such as…
Abstract
The importance of learning how to disagree constructively has long been valued as a fundamental aspect of democratic life. Yet, while well-known discussion methodologies such as seminars, Structured Academic Controversy (SAC), and discussions of Controversial Public Issues (CPIs) foster essential skills for constructive disagreement, there is little explicit emphasis on connecting constructive disagreement with the concept of a loyal opposition in a democracy. The process of learning how to disagree constructively is also presented as one that is learned solely through intellectual exercises — any exploration of the body’s role in this process is generally ignored. This document argues that by more clearly linking constructive disagreement with the place of a loyal opposition in a democracy and by considering the body as an additional “entry point,” educators would be making a stronger case for the place of constructive disagreement skills in the social studies curriculum.
This paper reports on the construct validity of an instrument initially developed to measure five dimensions of morale among Australian teachers. Using factor analysis, the…
Abstract
This paper reports on the construct validity of an instrument initially developed to measure five dimensions of morale among Australian teachers. Using factor analysis, the authors confirm earlier findings that this instrument (the Staff Morale Questionnaire) taps only three dimensions—cohesive pride, leadership synergy, and personal challenge. The dimensional structure appears also to be stable across different samples of teachers.
Francisco Javier Saavedra-Macías, Samuel Arias-Sánchez and Ana Rodríguez-Gómez