According to W. Edwards Deming, American companies require nothing less than a transformation of management style and of governmental relations with industry. In Out of the Crisis, originally published in 1982, Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future, he claims, brings about loss of market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly dividend, but by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved product and service. In simple, direct language, he explains the principles of management transformation and how to apply them.

Out of the Crisis

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

The past decade has brought advanced information technologies, which include electronic messaging systems, executive information systems, collaborative systems, group decision support systems, and other technologies that use sophisticated information management to enable multiparty participation in organization activities. Developers and users of these systems hold high hopes for their potential to change organizations for the better, but actual changes often do not occur, or occur inconsistently. We propose adaptive structuration theory (AST) as a viable approach for studying the role of advanced information technologies in organization change. AST examines the change process from two vantage points: (1) the types of structures that are provided by advanced technologies, and (2) the structures that actually emerge in human action as people interact with these technologies. To illustrate the principles of AST, we consider the small group meeting and the use of a group decision support system (GDSS). A GDS...

Capturing the Complexity in Advanced Technology Use: Adaptive Structuration Theory

A framework for quality management research and an associated measurement instrument

Barney Dalgarno is a research fellow with the Centre for Research in Complex Systems (CRiCS), Charles Sturt University, and an associate professor with the School of Education at the same university. His research interests lie in desktop virtual reality learning environments, as well as constructivist computerassisted learning theories, techniques and tools. Dalgarno’s PhD work examined the characteristics of 3-D environments and their potential contributions to spatial learning, and he is now studying the application of brain imaging though Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to interactive multimedia research. Mark J. W. Lee is an adjunct senior lecturer with the School of Education, Charles Sturt University. Previously, he worked in a variety of teaching, instructional design, and managerial roles within the private vocational education and higher education sectors. He has published approximately 50 refereed book chapters, journal articles, and conference papers in the areas of educational technology, e-learning, and innovative pedagogy in tertiary education. Lee is the Chair of the New South Wales Chapter of the IEEE Education Society and serves as founding Editor-in-Chief of Impact:Journal of Applied Research in Workplace E-learning, in addition to being on the editorial boards of a number of international journals. Address for correspondence: Mark J. W. Lee, School of Education, Charles Sturt University, Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia. Email: malee@csu.edu.au

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.01038.x

What are the learning affordances of 3-D virtual environments?

Programmable automation lies at the heart of competitive manufacturing, yet many firms have been slow to adopt new production technologies. This study attempted to develop a theory of change in aut...

Organizational and Technological Predictors of Change in automaticity

Flexibility and standardization: test of a contingency model of product design–manufacturing integration

This paper proposes a "composite" form of organization as best for reducing product development time and costs. This composite is a meld of three sets of concurrent engineering (CE) practices: early simultaneous influence (ESI) in product design decisions by multiple functions, in-process design controls (IDC), and computer and information technology (CIT). The importance of these practices was suggested by case studies of CE practices in 12 major US companies. The separate and interaction effects of each of these three practices is tested statistically using data from a survey sample of 74 companies. The results show statistically significant interaction effects among the three core CE practice sets. This suggests synergistic benefits from simultaneously achieving high levels of these three practices.

Composite forms of organization as a strategy for concurrent engineering effectiveness

A recent article in Organization Studies used in its title the term ‘constant connectivity’. Though we commonly think of connectivity as ‘constant’, temporal intermittency and actor agency make connectivity seldom, if ever, constant. Reflecting on studies of connectivity highlights the growing importance of recognizing and defining ‘states’ of connectivity. Several states of connectivity are reviewed, namely: hypo-connectivity, hyper-connectivity, requisite and optimal connectivity (‘flow’). As an organizational resource, understanding various states of connectivity is critical to future research. More empirical work is needed to determine how the volume of connectivity makes a difference to performance and other outcomes.

States of Connectivity: New Questions and New Directions:

Have you ever felt anxious when you couldnot make contact with a colleague or familymember? Perhaps there was a deadlinelooming, or maybe you just wanted to checkin and see how they were doing. Did notbeing able to reach them heightened yoursense of urgency or make you feel helpless?A recent advertisement for mobile broad-band proclaimed itself as ‘The cure for Con-nectile Dysfunction,’ suggesting that to bedisconnected is to be dysfunctional. The term‘‘connectivity’’ began as a description of therelationship between electronic devices but isnow commonly applied to social relation-ships. Like technical connections, social con-nectivity is generally seen to be a good thing.Thepervasiveuptakeofcommunicationtools such as email, instant messaging andmobile email means that anytime, anywhereconnectivityisindeedbecomingessentialformany of us in both our personal and profes-sionallives.Onecannowbe‘atwork’almostanywhere as distributed and nomadic workbecome realities. As the ad suggests, con-nectivity is increasingly synonymous withperformance. So we check our voice andemail, we bow our heads to our Blackberriesand we phone or text our whereabouts andwishes to those near and far away. Onceconnected, it is difﬁcult to image being‘outoftheloop.’So,wedoourbesttoremainin almost constant contact with others andbecomestressedwhenweloseorfailtomakeconnections.For their part, information and commu-nication technologies (ICTs) have made iteasier than ever before to make contact withothers across borders and around the world.The recent unprecedented surge in technicalconnectivity has led many observers to bewildly enthusiastic regarding the potentialfor information and communication technol-ogies to transform organizational life. Theepitome of this optimism is Thomas Fried-man’s book, The World is Flat, which wasdiscussed extensively in a recent Special Edi-tion of Organization Dynamics and wasrecently voted ‘‘Book of the Year’’ by Lon-don’s Financial Times. Featuring fascinatingstatistics of global scale and scope, the book’smain premise is that operational standardsand practices have dramatically increasedthe ability of formerly isolated countriesand regions to more fully participate in theglobal economy. A recent full-page WallStreet Journal advertisement shows a tinystick hut with it own huge satellite dishand ponders, ‘How do you keep them downon the farm after they’ve seen Shanghai?’Meanwhile, a Cisco ad welcomes us to ‘thehuman network,’ illustrated by a gatheringof young red-robed monks peering into alaptop screen with anticipation. Trade andsocial exchange have always existed, butsocial and technical connectivity havebecome the new imperative of the globaleconomy.

Paul D. Collins

Papers

Organizational and Technological Predictors of Change in automaticity

Flexibility and standardization: test of a contingency model of product design–manufacturing integration

Composite forms of organization as a strategy for concurrent engineering effectiveness

States of Connectivity: New Questions and New Directions:

Finding Flow in a Not-So-Flat World