Internal Management Processes Research Articles

The relationship between the audit committee

Audit committees, governance type or otherwise, are a less common feature in EU Member States, where only few countries have extended audit committees or “governance” or similar such committees . Audit committees in the private sector focus on ensuring the reliability and the internal and external reporting, and therefore on the internal and external audit, the quality of internal control systems and risk management processes. For many countries applying this type of public sector audit committee may be too sophisticated, because there are no preconditions for its existence. The existence of audit committees does not automatically mean that organizations function properly and have no governance, internal control and external reporting problems. Because of the importance of communication between the internal auditors and the audit committee, the paper addresses issues such as planning discussions with internal auditors, analysis and conclusions as a result of communication, questionnaire models for the addressed areas and planning the meetings with external auditors.

Factors Affecting the Effectiveness of Thai Secondary World Class Standard School

AbstractThis study aimed to explore the relationship and effect of administrative factors that affecting the effectiveness of Thai World class Standard Schools. A total of 375 samples were selected by using stratified random sampling. Researchers employed a survey designed questionnaire as research instrument to collect data. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as percentage, mean score, standard deviation and stepwise multiple regression analysis. Findings of the study revealed that all the factors affecting the effectiveness of Thai World Class Standard Schools were at high level. Strategic planning factor was identified as highest mean score whereas teacher professional development factor was found as lowest mean score. Consequently, result also revealed that there were four significant predictors toward effectiveness of Thai Secondary World Class Standard Schools. These four significant predictors were factors for using information and communication technology(X8), teacher professional development (X6), internal process management (X2), and the focus on learners and stakeholder (X7) which have successful contributed 65.60 percent variance of effectiveness of Thai World Class Standard Schools at 0.01 significance level with multiple correlation coefficient as 0.81. This study is able is to promote the importance of factors that affecting effectiveness of Thai World Class Standard Schools.Keywords: School effectiveness; World Class Standard School; administrative factors

3D Virtual Worlds: Business and Learning Opportunities

Virtual worlds (VWs) are rampant and easily accessible to common internet users nowadays. Millions of users are already living their virtual lives in these worlds. Moreover, the number of users is increasing continuously. The purpose of this paper is to review all the business opportunities on these virtual worlds along with the learning opportunities for the real world companies and business students. This paper clearly and precisely defines the virtual worlds in the context of social networking sites and also aims at discussing the past, present and future of VWs. All the possible business opportunities for the real world companies including advertisement & communication, retailing opportunities, application for human resource management, marketing research and organizations' internal process management through virtual worlds are critically reviewed here. In addition to the discussion current learning and training opportunities for the real world companies and business students are also reviewed. The paper aims at proving that the VWs are full of business and marketing applications and they could be widely used by the real world companies for effective and efficient business operations.

A presença da inovação nos Planos de Desenvolvimento Institucional das universidades públicas paranaenses

Este estudo teve por objetivo analisar a presença da inovação nos Planos de Desenvolvimento Institucional (PDI´s) das universidades públicas paranaenses, investigando como ocorre esta inserção e quais áreas de atuação da universidade enfoca. Trata-se de um estudo exploratório utilizando o método qualitativo de Análise de Conteúdo, realizado a partir dos textos originais dos PDI´s de todas as sete universidades públicas (federais e estaduais) do estado do Paraná, Brasil, coletados entre julho e agosto de 2010. Como resultado identificou-se a presença da inovação nos PDI´s de seis das sete universidades, sendo que nas de esfera federal a preocupação com a inovação aparece com muito mais frequência que nas de esfera estadual, cujas menções foram pouco significativas ou inexistentes. A inovação é considerada em grande parte relacionada ao ensino e à pesquisa, sendo menos presente na extensão e na gestão de processos internos. Concluiu-se que a inovação ainda não é um tema amplamente presente nos planejamentos das universidades públicas paranaenses.

Innovative Product Management Driving Enhanced Customer Experience Management (CEM)

Customer Experience Management (CEM) has been a buzzword in both demand and supply side dynamics of the Telecom value chain. However emphasis is being given around CEM, it never feels just enough! Telecom ISPs are looking to generate more awareness of revenue generation and realization, so that it not only is about the increase of top line but also about consolidation of various products and services, almost being an aggregator at one stage to deliver with the help of a single service delivery platform. In other words, what is commonly known as VAS-Value added services in the industry. The key to this is real innovation, of newer ideas and productizing these concepts to market. For innovative product management, Telcos are opting to look for value added services, value added delivery as well as enhanced business models and operational frameworks. This is primarily done to carve out an innovation which leads to a differentiator non-existent in the market. A very common, yet unique one such concept can be the Balanced Scorecard perspective and mapping these different perspectives into various domains of a Telecom business. These are obviously very common in present days and widely used by all Telcos to arrive at a definitive decision for any strategic cause. It can be mapped to perspectives ranging from financial, customer-centricity and orientation, internal process management, functionality & delivery, lastly internal learning & growth. We need to understand the context of innovation of products & services under all of these above perspectives. This will give us immense clarity in creating such a differentiated offering to render enhanced Customer experience for better sustainability and thus thriving on market competition. Each layer of a Telco enterprise set up follows specific blueprint, whether its the business or operations or technology. This will ensure that all company strategies which are focused towards creating and delivering differentiated offerings and delivery are being realized appropriately hence the delta of perception versus reality is minimized to a great extent. This would definitely increase customer experience in all possible forms. Product life cycle management which forms the heart of CEM, should be certainly driven by cost of sale as well as price of product. Both of these parameters should be populated through a Balanced scorecard from a financial perspective to decide on a go-no go decision for concepts to be marketed in a Telco. These need to be realized through specific derivatives of business processes following best practices to ensure enhanced customer experience and better delivery of services to the end customer. Perhaps, the most important

Internal Reputation Management: The Impact of Authentic Leadership and Transparent Communication

The aim of the study is to illuminate the internal reputation management process by examining the impact of authentic leadership and transparent organizational communication on employee evaluation of the organization. Drawing upon extant literature of public relations, marketing, business and management on corporate reputation, the study suggests that authentic organizational leadership and transparent organizational communication are effective drivers for a favorable reputation in the eyes of corporate insiders. Through a web survey of 400 employees randomly selected from a variety of large and medium corporations in the United States, the study demonstrated that authentic leadership plays a critical role in nurturing the organization’s transparent communication system, which, in turn, shapes the organization’s internal reputation. An organization’s day-to-day transparent communication practice characterized by information substantiality, accountability and employee participation largely contributes to employees’ positive evaluation of the organization. Significant theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Performance measurement in the Third Sector: the development of a stakeholder-focussed research agenda

This paper addresses a need for greater insight into the theory and practice of performance measurement (PM) in the Third Sector (TS). Effective PM is crucial to the long-term viability of Third Sector organisations (TSOs), since it provides funders with the requisite evidence to demonstrate value for money and to convince them to provide further funding. It also serves to ensure that vulnerable societal groups receive the social care they need and that the internal management processes of TSOs continuously improve their effectiveness and sustainability. PM research has been scant in this sector and our literature review suggests that no extant models or frameworks are particularly suitable in this context, due in part to the wide range of stakeholders and the distinctive characteristics of TSOs. Drawing on a comprehensive review of the literature, we develop the conceptual foundation of PM in the Third Sector and derive a research agenda that provides a platform for future work. This draws in part on the notions embedded in Stakeholder Theory.

A dynamic balanced scorecard for identification internal process factor

Article history: Received December 19, 2011 Received in Revised form March, 20, 2012 Accepted 19 April 2012 Available online April 21 2012 We present a dynamic balanced score card (BSC) to investigate the strategic internal process management factors. The proposed dynamic BSC emphasizes on internal processes aspect, and using VIKOR and Shannon Entropy, determinants the internal processes, process management and improvement and all important factors are ranked. The current study first introduces dynamic BSC and examines effective factors on the process. The proposed model focuses on internal processes perspective of BSC and determines importance degree of each factor is used using VIKOR decision-making techniques. © 2012 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Negotiating Identity and Pragmatism: Parental Treatment of International Adoptees' Birth Culture Names

The current study advances the extant literature on how internal boundary management processes (naming, discussing, narrating, ritualizing) impact identity by demonstrating how naming fosters identity in the context of international adoption. The study examined: (a) parental treatment of their children's birth country names in the naming process and (b) parental motives for various naming forms (i.e., placement of the child's birth culture name within the full name). Focus groups were conducted with 32 U.S. White American parents with an adopted child from either China or Vietnam. Results present a catalog of four international adoptee naming forms, with parents choosing to retain, alter, create a new, or exclude the birth culture name. Parents were found to appeal to two primary motivations—identity and pragmatism—to justify and explain these differing naming forms. This study found that naming promoted three identity source domains: family identity, ethnic identity, and individual identity.

Analysis of Workload Behavior in Scientific and Historical Long-Term Data Repositories

The scope of archival systems is expanding beyond cheap tertiary storage: scientific and medical data is increasingly digital, and the public has a growing desire to digitally record their personal histories. Driven by the increase in cost efficiency of hard drives, and the rise of the Internet, content archives have become a means of providing the public with fast, cheap access to long-term data. Unfortunately, designers of purpose-built archival systems are either forced to rely on workload behavior obtained from a narrow, anachronistic view of archives as simply cheap tertiary storage, or extrapolate from marginally related enterprise workload data and traditional library access patterns.To close this knowledge gap and provide relevant input for the design of effective long-term data storage systems, we studied the workload behavior of several systems within this expanded archival storage space. Our study examined several scientific and historical archives, covering a mixture of purposes, media types, and access models---that is, public versus private. Our findings show that, for more traditional private scientific archival storage, files have become larger, but update rates have remained largely unchanged. However, in the public content archives we observed, we saw behavior that diverges from the traditional “write-once, read-maybe” behavior of tertiary storage. Our study shows that the majority of such data is modified---sometimes unnecessarily---relatively frequently, and that indexing services such as Google and internal data management processes may routinely access large portions of an archive, accounting for most of the accesses. Based on these observations, we identify areas for improving the efficiency and performance of archival storage systems.

The effects of different aspects of ISO 9000 implementation on key supply chain management practices and operational performance

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically test a model of different aspects of ISO 9000 implementation in terms of their relationships with three key supply chain (SC) management practices (internal processes, supplier relationships, and customer relationships). In addition, it aims to examine the relationship between the three key SC activities and operational performance.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 321 middle and senior managers of ISO 9001 certified firms in Australia who were responsible for managing the quality systems in their organizations. The structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was employed using LISREL software to test the research model and the hypotheses in this study.FindingsThe results show that advanced implementation of ISO 9000 is positively related to all three aspects of SC activities (internal, customer, and supplier process management), while supportive implementation is positively related to internal and customer process management. However, basic implementation has no direct influence on any SC management practices. The results also indicate that supplier and internal process management both have a positive effect on operational performance, while customer process management has no significant impact on operational performance.Practical implicationsThe results provide key insights for managers on the extent to which different aspects of the implementation of a quality management system would produce benefits for the organization within the SC context.Originality/valueDespite the central premises of ISO 9000, which are concerned with internal processes and SC management practices, only a few studies have examined this matter to date. The current study seeks to bridge this gap by examining the effect of ISO 9000 implementation on operational and SC management practices that, in turn, will predict the operational benefits within adopting firms.

Accountability structures and management relationships of internal audit

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the accountability structures and the management relationships of internal audit. In particular, related issues such as the predominant internal audit objectives and the related functions, the extent to which internal audit addresses any financial reporting risks and the manner in which internal auditors in Australia perform their tasks, are identified. The study also looks at the extent of compliance with the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Standards.Design/methodology/approachBased on a survey of the chief audit executives in Australia, the study identifies the reporting mechanisms, functions and relationships of internal audit, including the contributions made towards good corporate governance. There is, however, some misalignment between the aspirations of internal auditors and their relationships with management.FindingsWhile internal audit objectives have been established with a focus on controls, risks and governance, the study has highlighted the fact that there is a lack of correlation between the tasks performed by internal auditors and the important internal audit objectives, with the exception of internal control and risks. The results also suggest that internal auditors have been providing an internal consulting and advisory role in matters concerning IT systems, strategic risks and financial issues. If internal auditors are to proactively contribute to good corporate governance, they need to define how, and in what way, this can be done. In regard to corporate governance processes, the results of the research indicate that issues surrounding internal control, risk assessment and management processes are regarded as the key factors for internal audit to contribute to good corporate governance.Originality/valueThis study complements and contributes to the existing literature in providing insights into the evolving role of the internal audit function in terms of accountabilities and relationships with management. It also provides a valuable insight into how the internal audit profession can build upon its inherent strengths and address any apparent areas of concern. This will assist both the profession and policy makers alike, in better understanding and improving the role of the internal audit process.

Opportunities of integrating supply chain quality management and product development with formulation systems in compound feed manufacturing

Introduction To maximize the performance of the target animal group, market-oriented feed production aims high-quality products by considering variability of ingredient quality attributes in the least cost formulations. Supply chain quality management systems reveal information that formulation can apply to achieve benefits. Materials and Methods Feed product had been formulated both with linear and stochastic programming on different probability levels with nutrient averages and the standard deviation of a key nutrient in ingredient batches from two vendors. The information sources of formulation were mapped, as well as the uses of output data. Results Data sources of formulation are internal (from feed manufacturer) and external (from vendors). Output data from formulation is mainly used internally, but available also for supply chain quality management. Formulation simulates the implications of raw material variability from suppliers and helps to identify areas of vendor development. Conclusion Formulation provides possibility to consider ingredient variability to reach product target on higher probability levels. Integration between supplier quality management and feed formulation brings the benefits of more consistent product quality, lower costs of rations, accuracy in planning, support in ingredient purchasing decisions, better traceability, improvement of supplier performance, and internal quality management processes. CSIKAI A (2011). Opportunities of integrating supply chain quality management and product development with formulation systems in compound feed manufacturing. Quality Assurance and Safety of Crops & Foods, ▪▪, 1–7

Qualitätssicherung und Qualitätsmanagement in der medizinischen Rehabilitation

External quality assurance in medical rehabilitation is characterized by the programs of Germany's two largest providers of rehabilitation (the German pension insurance and the statutory health insurance). The programs were developed with considerable input from scientific institutes. Their strengths lie in measuring several relevant dimensions of quality, the comprehensive implementation for nearly all illnesses treated, integration of the patient perspective, and realization of prospective study designs with follow-up. Weaknesses include low relevance for patient allocation and compensation, the absence of systematic evaluations, and a lack of published patient information on the results of the quality measurements. Internal quality management in medical rehabilitation is regulated by sweeping legal guidelines. Since 2009, a statutory agreement has been in effect which includes a provision that all inpatient rehabilitation centers must be certified by October 2012. Areas for potential improvements in internal quality management processes include an improved theoretical basis, higher specificity for rehabilitation, and a more transparent, methodically improved structure of certification procedures.

Does ISO 14001 work in Brazil?

As a result of increasing global awareness about the importance of the environment, depletion of natural resources and legal pressures for companies to manage their processes in a sustainable manner, ISO 14001 systems have been gaining increasingly more importance in the organizational scenario. These elements are even more critical in emerging nations due to less awareness and fewer demands by governments and the population in relation to environmental issues. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to verify the benefits and difficulties of Environmental Management Systems based on ISO 14001 at industries in the state of São Paulo – Brazil (an emerging country) by conducting a survey to subsidize the proposal for actions in the public, academic and private sectors to promote the use of this standard of reference and strengthen its results in Brazil. A questionnaire was sent to 194 companies from the National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality database. 69 answered, representing a return rate of 35.36%. The main benefits identified are related to the development of preventive environmental actions, reduction in the consumption of power, water, gas and fuel oil, and a positive influence on other internal management processes. The main difficulties are related to cost increases from ISO 14001 management systems and the constant changes in environmental legislation in Brazil. Some actions are proposed at the end of the analyses to intensify the use and improve the results of this standard, such as changes in government legislation and its collective development and implementation in industries.

RTE 환경에서의 SOA 기반 협업적 분산 에이전트 개발

The organizations in the competitive business environment are under pressure of handling internal management processes as well as external supply chain issues. In addition, the paradigm of supply chain management (SCM) has been shifted from static to dynamic problems. For the efficient SCM, organizations should be a RTE (Real Time Enterprises) that views entire supply chains as a single entity. In this paper, the agent system that makes RTE and dynamic supply chains possible is developed. Then, the developed agent system is verified in the TAC SCM(Trading Agent Competition Supply Chain Management) experimental environment and a dashboard is also developed for monitoring management activities of supply chains. The contributions of this paper are as followings. First, unlike the previous agent systems, the suggested agent system in this paper provides autonomy and scalability using SOA. Second, this suggested model for dynamic environment can be applied for the development of software supporting a SCM.

Polytrauma management − a single centre experience

The management of polytraumatised patients remains challenging in spite of advances and improvements in trauma care in recent decades. Trauma systems require enormous staff resources as well as technical equipment. Internal and external quality management processes are necessary to identify weak points and improve treatment quality. Continuous training of all professionals involved in trauma care is necessary to assure high quality, up-to-date therapy in patients with multiple injuries. Standard operating procedures such as prehospital trauma algorithms and clinical management protocols (ie, ATLS) can help to standardise and compare treatment of patients suffering from major trauma. In this overview, we describe the development and current state of our trauma department. Differences in our cohort of polytraumatised patients compared to other facilities and current strategies for initial treatment of these patients are also discussed.

The fairyland of Second Life: Virtual social worlds and how to use them

Virtual social worlds, such as the Internet site Second Life, have acquired a high degree of popularity in the popular and business press. In this article we address the increasing importance of virtual social worlds, and discuss how companies can make use of their potential. We first present how virtual social worlds evolved historically, how they fit into the postmodern paradigm of our time, and how they differ from other social media, such as content communities (e.g., YouTube), social networking sites and blogs (e.g., Facebook), collaborative projects (e.g., Wikipedia), and virtual game worlds (e.g., World of Warcraft). We subsequently present how firms can make use of virtual social worlds in the areas of advertising/communication, virtual product sales (v-Commerce), marketing research, human resources, and internal process management. We also highlight the points companies should pay particular attention to in their activities, the 5Cs of success in virtual social worlds, and the future evolutions that we expect to shape this sector over the next 5–10 years: a trend toward standardization and interoperability, improvements in software usability, increasing interconnection between reality and virtual worlds, establishment of law and order, and the transformation of virtual social worlds to business hubs of the future.

A US Client’s learning from outsourcing IT work offshore

Based on 45 interviews and significant documentation, we explore the offshore outsourcing experiences of a US-based biotechnology company. This company offshore outsourced 21 IT projects to six suppliers in India. Senior managers and the official documents from the Program Management Office consistently reported that offshore outsourcing was successful in reducing the company's IT costs. But interviews with knowledgeable participants actually managing the projects suggest that many projects were not successful in meeting cost, quality, and productivity objectives. We found evidence that this company's offshore strategy to simply replace domestic contractors with cheaper, offshore suppliers was a poor fit with its social and cultural contexts. Specifically, we found that strong social networks between the company's internal IT employees and domestic contractors were not easily replicated with offshore suppliers. Furthermore, the internal project management processes were often incompatible with offshore suppliers' processes. This paper also analyzes seven project characteristics that differentiate highly-rated projects from poorly-rated projects. These project characteristics are type of IT work, size of supplier firm, location of supplier employees (onsite/offshore), dollar value of the contract, duration of the project, timing of the project, and client unit managing the project. The paper concludes with four overall insights for clients and suppliers.

Information systems as a quality management tool in clinical laboratories

This article describes information systems as a quality management tool in clinical laboratories. The quality of laboratory analyses is of fundamental importance for health professionals in aiding appropriate diagnosis and treatment. Information systems allow the automation of internal quality management processes, using standard sample tests, Levey-Jennings charts and Westgard multirule analysis. This simplifies evaluation and interpretation of quality tests and reduces the possibility of human error. This study proposes the development of an information system with appropriate functions and costs for the automation of internal quality control in small and medium-sized clinical laboratories. To this end, it evaluates the functions and usability of two commercial software products designed for this purpose, identifying the positive features of each, so that these can be taken into account during the development of the proposed system.