ICT Issues Research Articles

The Next Step for Telecom Regulation: ICT Convergence Regulation or Multisector Utilities Regulation?

This paper critically examines the multiple rationales for telecom, IT, media (ICT) convergence regulation on the one hand, and multisector utility regulation on the other, and the practical questions of implementation they pose, with a view to contributing to informed policy and regulatory decisions that are now underway in many countries. The conditions that may affect the creation of convergence and multi-sector regulation, ranging from underlying commonality of inputs and the behaviour of regulated firms to considerations that are specific to the regulatory process such as scarcity of regulatory resources and safeguards for regulatory independence, are examined. The paper concludes that ICT and media convergence issues are primarily about improving the efficiency of market economies, and how changes in regulation can facilitate this process. It is likely to be of primary interest for countries that already have an established effective independent telecom regulator. Multisector regulation issues are primarily about establishing the efficiency and effectiveness of regulation so it can be a catalyst for network and economic development. It is likely to be of primary interest to countries that have not yet established effective telecom regulation. Each regulatory option arises from an initial diagnose of different problems, and represents different priorities and pathways to achieving a very similar set of development objectives.

ICT issues among collaborative enterprises: From rigid to adaptive agent-based technologies

In this paper a review is presented of the current trends in IT interorganizational integration. A special emphasis is put on the Virtual Enterprise case. It is argued that the conceptual, structural and technological changes in the enterprise-to-enterprise interaction are producing a paradigm shift in how the conceptualization and design of future ICT systems. The emergences of component and agent technologies are important factors in this paradigm shift. The main features of the agent paradigm are presented, namely empowerment and cooperative interaction, and a short review given of the frameworks, tools and other technology related aspects, like code mobility and mobileagent systems. Finally, two mobile agent systems are presented.

Interpersonal Skills Training Eight Years On

A course on interpersonal skills training, described in a 1977 issue of ICT, has changed now beyond recognation. The author looks at the changes made and the reasons for such.

Thoughts on Action Learning

One of the gravest disabilities from which training suffers is that, of all the important fields of human activity, few have a smaller corpus of significant literature. Most of the millions of words which have gushed forth about training have been ephemeral, repetitious or pretentious. It is sad that after decades of bustle and effort Bruce Nixon should, in the September 1982 issue of ICT, have had to write in such simplistic terms about a LAST CHANCE FOR MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT. Though there are some sectors to which they do not apply, few will quarrel with his general charges. The packaged course, the remote academic, the fluttering fashions and the lowly, disregarded trainer should all have vanished long ago, but they are, it appears, still with us. The basic reason for this intellectual poverty is surely that trainers have concerned themselves with means rather than ends. With a few notable exceptions, such as the Phoenix series, the journals are filled with techniques and descriptions, and those aspects of analysis which are covered are apt to be so swathed in jargon as to be frighteningly obscure. Seen from the trainer's eye‐view this preoccupation with means may seem inevitable. As Nixon points out, the ends of training are concerned with the survival, the effectiveness and the financial viability of an enterprise. How can a trainer, way down the hierarchy, presume to deal with these high matters? Their proper consideration demands that the trainer should peer into the future and, if Jacques' theory of the time span is correct, he should be paid more than his Managing Director. His problem is that if he dons the mantle of a futurologist, he may not only be denied a rise, but also be told sharply to get back to training the foremen. There are ways of squaring this circle, but there seems no doubt that the low status of most trainers and the limited horizons that have been imposed upon them have been a prime cause of the intellectual deserts which cover much of the training world.

The benefits of part‐time jobs

This article is an extract from a longer article published under the same title in LLOYDS BANK ECONOMIC BULLETIN, Number 45, September 1982. A copy of the bulletin can be obtained free of charge from the Group Economics Department, Lloyds Bank, 71 Lombard Street, London EC3P 3BS. In the September issue of ICT we suggested that developing a system of permanent or semi‐permanent part‐time jobs is one of the secrets of adapting to the needs of tomorrow's world. We indicated that this concept was much to be preferred to job‐splitting, with which it is closely allied, since job‐splitting is only one part of the part‐time pattern. As this Lloyds Bank article asserts, another and more important part is the special creation of part‐time jobs in their own right. We can expect many fundamental changes in the field of employment in the coming years as we adapt to the requirements of new technology and tomorrow's world. The creation of part‐time jobs is the first of these new concepts to emerge. This makes the subject one of continuing and deep concern to practitioners in the Human Resources business and this article is presented as an introduction to the topic.