HEC Montréal

About: HEC Montréal is a education organization based out in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Context (language use) & Vehicle routing problem. The organization has 1221 authors who have published 5708 publications receiving 196862 citations. The organization is also known as: Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Montreal & HEC Montreal.

A tabu search heuristic for the quay crane scheduling problem

Abstract: This paper proposes a tabu search heuristic for the Quay Crane Scheduling Problem (QCSP), the problem of scheduling a fixed number of quay cranes in order to load and unload containers into and from a ship. The optimality criterion considered is the minimum completion time. Precedence and non-simultaneity constraints between tasks are taken into account. The former originate from the different kind of operations that each crane has to perform; the latter are needed in order to avoid interferences between the cranes. The QCSP is decomposed into a routing problem and a scheduling problem. The routing problem is solved by a tabu search heuristic, while a local search technique is used to generate the solution of the scheduling problem. This is done by minimizing the longest path length in a disjunctive graph. The effectiveness of our algorithm is assessed by comparing it to a branch-and-cut algorithm and to a Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP).

Global Virtual Teams

Abstract: Recent interviews with GVT leaders and members offer criticaladvice from the trenches regarding the challenges and copingstrategies for collaborating on a global scale.

'Just What the Doctor Ordered': A Revised UTAUT for EMR System Adoption and Use by Doctors

Abstract: Electronic medical record (EMR) systems can deliver many benefits to healthcare organizations and the patients they serve. However, one of the biggest stumbling blocks in garnering these benefits is the limited adoption and use by doctors. We employ the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) as the theoretical foundation and adapt the theory to the context of EMR system adoption and use by doctors. Specifically, we suggest that age will be the only significant moderator, and gender, voluntariness and experience will not play significant moderating roles. We tested our model in a longitudinal study over a 7-month period in a hospital implementing a new EMR system. We collected 3 waves of survey data from 141 doctors and used system logs to measure use. While the original UTAUT only predicted about 20% of the variance in intention, the modified UTAUT predicted 44%. Both models were comparable in their prediction of use. In addition to contributing to healthcare IT and UTAUT research, we hope this work will serve as a foundation for future work that integrates UTAUT with other theoretical perspectives.

Escalating Indecision: Between Reification and Strategic Ambiguity

Abstract: This paper examines an organizational pathology that we label “escalating indecision”---where people find themselves driven to invest time and energy in activities and decision processes aimed at resolving an issue of common concern, but where closure appears elusive. The phenomenon is illustrated through a case history in which a strategic orientation decision involving the configuration of a group of large teaching hospitals was continually made, unmade, and remade, producing little concrete strategic action over many years before achieving more tangible moves toward implementation. The paper introduces the notion of a “network of indecision” in which participants have become sufficiently attached to a common project to continue working together to move it forward, but their divergent conceptions of what this involves prevent them from materializing it in a tangible form. The paper suggests that networks of indecision are dialectically constituted through a set of practices of reification and practices of strategic ambiguity. The phenomenon is strongly associated with pluralistic settings characterized by diffuse power and divergent interests, and its prevalence is likely to be greater in situations of reactive leadership, uncertain resource availabilities, and long time horizons.