Data Mining Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques

1. Introduction and Overview. 2. Detecting Influential Observations and Outliers. 3. Detecting and Assessing Collinearity. 4. Applications and Remedies. 5. Research Issues and Directions for Extensions. Bibliography. Author Index. Subject Index.

Regression Diagnostics: Identifying Influential Data and Sources of Collinearity

Models that depict innovation as a smooth, well-behaved linear process badly misspecify the nature and direction of the causal factors at work. Innovation is complex, uncertain, somewhat disorderly, and subject to changes of many sorts. Innovation is also difficult to measure and demands close coordination of adequate technical knowledge and excellent market judgment in order to satisfy economic, technological, and other types of constraints—all simultaneously. The process of innovation must be viewed as a series of changes in a complete system not only of hardware, but also of market environment, production facilities and knowledge, and the social contexts of the innovation organization.

An Overview of Innovation

What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)

Social identity theory and the organization

Although widely regarded as central to the successful implementation of change in organisations, middle managers have been relatively neglected in the literature on resistance to change (RTC). Focusing on middle management, we investigated the relative impact on RTC of two key factors commonly identified in the literature as key potential antecedents of resistance, namely individuals' perceptions of the cost/benefits of change and their extent of participation in the change process, respectively. To this end, we first identified a number of alternative hypotheses about the impact of the two antecedents of interest on RTC. We then tested these hypotheses using structured survey data from a sample of over 300 middle managers in the Italian national electricity company (ENEL) which, in the second half of the 1990s, underwent a major programme of change in preparation for its eventual privatization. In line with dominant arguments in the literature, the results of the analysis provided clear support to the id...

The nature and antecedents of middle manager resistance to change: evidence from an Italian context

The study examines a relatively neglected, but important, aspect of the analysis and evaluation of training, namely trainees' immediate reaction to training. In particular, we focused on an analysis of the factors that affect participants' overall satisfaction with training. We first identified three key situational antecedents of training satisfaction, including trainees' perceptions of the efficiency and usefulness of the training, and their perceptions of trainer performance. Specific hypotheses relating each of these factors to training satisfaction were then developed and tested using data from a sample of about 3000 trainees from a range of Italian companies participating in a large-scale regionally-funded training programme involving over 300 different training courses. The results revealed that, although all three hypothesised antecedents were significantly positively related to training satisfaction, the perceived usefulness of training had the strongest effect. Importantly, the results also sugg...

Trainees' reactions to training: an analysis of the factors affecting overall satisfaction with training

Purpose – This paper aims to advance the debate regarding the use of training evaluation tools, chiefly the Kirkpatrick model, in reaction to minimal use of the tools reported in the literature and the economic changes that have characterised the industrialised world in the past 20 years.Design/methodology/approach – The main argument – the need to design new evaluation tools – emerges from an extensive literature review of criticism of the Kirkpatrick model. The approach is deductive; the argument emerges from extant literature.Findings – The main findings of the literature review show that the major criticisms of the Kirkpatrick model, though rigorous, are not relevant in today's post‐industrial economy. Issues of complexity, accuracy and refinement, which are relevant in stable industrial organisations, must be revised in the new economic world.Research limitations/implications – This paper is based on a literature review and presents a call for new research. As such, it is not grounded in original emp...

Antonio Giangreco

Papers

The nature and antecedents of middle manager resistance to change: evidence from an Italian context

The nature and antecedents of middle manager resistance to change: evidence from an Italian context

Trainees' reactions to training: an analysis of the factors affecting overall satisfaction with training

Trainees' reactions to training: an analysis of the factors affecting overall satisfaction with training

Are we doing the right thing?: food for thought on training evaluation and its context