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This study examines the effect of strategy and task uncertainty on management accounting system (MAS) design. Mas design was defined in terms of the perceived usefulness of several information characteristics which may be associated with an MAS. We collected 87 respondents by surveying 500 middle managers of public owned companies in Taiwan, and used path analysis to test our hypotheses. The findings indicated that¡G1. There is a significant positive relation between strategy and task uncertainty. Furthermore, task difficulty and task variability also have significant positive relations with strategy respectively. 2. Strategy and the perceived usefulness of broad scope MAS information have both positive direct and indirect relations through task uncertainty. Besides, through task variability, there is an indirect relation between strategy and the perceived usefulness of broad scope MAS information, but there isn¡¦t an indirect relation between strategy and the perceived usefulness of broad scope MAS information via task difficulty. 3. A direct relationship between strategy and the perceived usefulness of aggregated MAS information was not found.

Recently, the health care services in Taiwan have rocket booming both in scale and in quantity. The competition among these health care service organizations are forging these facilities into cost effective systems through, promoting various quality control programs, elevating clinic & treatment capabilities, and improving quality of health care services. This study is to investigate how the medical staffs¡¦ recognitions are, and at what priority to initiate proper actions, while promoting Taiwan Quality Indicator Project in a medical center in southern Taiwan and its relative influences in clinic quality. The method is to conduct a survey of four hundred and twenty eight (428) clinic personnel from six (6) departments ¡V Emergency Dept., Surgery Dept., Intensive Care Unit, Obstetric & Gynecology Dept., Nursing Dept. and, Psychlogical Dept. - of the sampled medical center. A total of 428 copies of inquires were released to the sampled clinic personnel on April 1st, 2007; and those were collected back with a returning rate of 86.9%, on April 30th, 2007. Software package SPSS is applied to analyze the distribution of this survey. And methods of chi-square test, ANOVA are used to investigate the influence to health care quality caused by various different personnel characteristics. Conclusions are as follows: 1.The results demonstrate that 52.4% clinic personnel do not fully understand about TQIP. And among them, Nurses, Resident Doctors and, Chief Doctors are the most. While the clinic personnel completely understand TQIP are mostly Registered Nurses and, Attending Physicians. Obvious differences of understanding about TQIP exist, apparently, per different job titles. 2.The importance of TQIP given by the sampled persons is 4.08, categorized as ¡¥important¡¦. Without discrimination, same importance is indicated by all clinic personnel of different job titles. 3.The index/indicators of TQIP are accepted as capable to evaluate health care quality of their unit/department by 64.1% of the sampled personnel. Thus, the index/indicator chosen are adequate and proper. 4.69.4% of sampled clinic personnel agree that quality improvement policies are prepared and are realized in their unit/department. The results of TQIP in those units/departments illustrate positive quality improvements of health care service. 5.On the whole, after participating TQIP, the sampled hospital finds quality improvement in health care. The positive influences in health care are, sequentially from more to less, elevating concept of quality control, understanding quality status of the hospital, assessing quality problem of clinic service unit/department, improving health care service quality, improving capabilities in problem solving, improving operation processes & procedures, improving in methods of data collection, better team work, accelerating information computerization in the hospital, better communication and coordination among unit/department. 6.The sampled hospital standardized the ¡§Monitoring & Testing Procedures of Health Care Quality Index/Indicators¡¨. The details of operation procedures are posted on the intra-net for unit/department¡¦s inquiring and following. Annual data of index/indicators collected are to be introduced in the hopistal¡¦s MIS System for top managements¡¦ inquiry and references. Five (5) recommendations after analyses: 1.The sampled hospital is graded as medical center hospital holding the responsibilities in education. The education in quality control shall be promoted and continuously initiate improving programs in health care quality, due to in depth knowledge affects the attitude and behavior in health care quality performed. 2.Clinic personnel have heavy work loads. Computerized Index/Indicator related information should be easy to access on the information system. Thus, the programmer/engineer of the information center shall simplify the procedures/ processes as year planning even the resources are limited. 3.Unit/department requires specific person to handling index /indicator. Thus, the department management can lead daily jobs down to the ground, actively involving in quality improvement programs within the unit/department. 4.One of the opinions of ¡¥not important¡¦ category is that ¡¥no solid benefit for doctors following up index/indicators. The suggestion to top management is to elevate the morale by rewarding the participants with monetary efficiency bonus instead of just merits. 5.It is very complicated about how to increase knowledge and consensus in health care quality. Besides sufficient communication with clinic personnel, man-power integration, and continuous education and on job training, problem solving and quality improvement programs are necessary. Learning from the successful experience of other health care facilities, within the country or from foreign countries, is also an efficient method.

Abstract Most enterprises reinforce themselves with the Management Information System and the intranet to get information promptly and also the internet to enhance the relationships with customers as one of the most important strategies to survive in the competitive environment. The key success factors of Management Information System are mature system planning, friendly design for users, and end user¡¦s participation, which is recognized as the most crucial factor of the above. Therefore, how to evaluate end user¡¦s satisfaction and acceptance on the Management Information System becomes the most interesting topic for the managers. This study explores the technology acceptance of the end users of Shop Information System from the model of TAM2 (Technology Acceptance Model II). And its purpose is to find the influent factors of Intention to Use and Use Behavior of the end users of Shop Information System. The managers can carry out or improve the MIS according to this study. After the research, this study indicates that there are four components that influenced the degree of acceptance of technology, included the Usefulness of system, the result demonstrability; the ease of use, and ought to use or not. Different factors under several conditions in demography significantly influence the intention of users. The managers can improve the management information system according to the finding of this study.

The information service industry keeps growing up in Taiwan in recent years. Many local companies of information service follow this trend as well. Management Control System (MCS) is one of the most important factors to make organization grow stably when it develops from star stage to mature stage. So that this research adopts the approach of case study to interview four vice presidents, who are in charge of four different departments in the case company that is leading in information service industry. This research intends to analyze the characteristics of MCS of the case company through deep exploratory case study. Then it will discuss over the differentiation between literature review and real interview. Finally, this research will propose conclusions and suggestions to the domestic companies that want to design and implement MCS. This research analyzes the characteristics of MCS by degree of formalization, participation, communication and information sophistication. The objectives of this research are as follows: 1¡BTo comprehend the characteristics of MCS of information service industry. 2¡BTo compare the difference between different departments in case company. 3¡BTo analyze the relationship between MCS and organization life cycle. The conclusion shows information service industry that belongs to Professional Service can also adopt bureaucratic MCS which is like Mass Service. It depends on the task whether can be identify cleanly. Key Words: management control system, information service industry, scorecard, organization life cycle.

Thesis ( Ph.D. ) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.

Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) are computerized systems intended to support the management and application of organizational knowledge. Despite the many potential benefits from KMS> industry reports show that companies are having difficulties in realizing these benefits. This dissertation sets out to identify the reasons for those difficulties - from a requirements analysis point of view - and to propose a way to improve the design of KMS in order to enhance their benefits to companies. We develop a theory-based approach to the evaluation of Knowledge Management Systems and identify the main shortfalls of existing systems. The findings show two inter-related problems. First, the lack of a conceptual model such as an organizational ontology or of additional knowledge about the knowledge might inhibit KMS ability to support specific organizational KM processes. Second - the lack of an integrated KM product reduces organization's ability to attain an overall solution for the management of organizational knowledge. In addition, the analysis pinpoints the inability of current technology to support effective management of tacit knowledge - an important aspect of KMS design. In the second part of the dissertation we focus on one of the problems identified - namely, the lack of a unified meta-knowledge set - and identify the specific meta-knowledge that should be incorporated into the design of KMS. The expected benefits from the inclusion of meta-knowledge are better management of organizational memory and enhanced adoption of knowledge by KMS users. We conduct an empirical investigation - using conjoint analysis - to identify specific attributes of knowledge and of knowledge sources that individuals take into account when making their knowledge use decision, and propose that these attributes should be included as meta-knowledge in the KMS design. The results indicate that the 'accuracy' and 'relevance' of the knowledge are the top two important attributes in the knowledge selection decision and 'extent of knowledge' and 'trustworthiness' are the top two important attributes in the selection of a knowledge source. In addition the results show that knowledge plays a slightly more important role than knowledge source in the overall decision. Finally, several demographic and contextual variables - such as the knowledge search task and organization size - are shown to affect the importance of different attributes in the overall evaluation of knowledge and of knowledge source by individuals.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to describe how IKEA AB, works with projects today. Further, the aim is to give a suggestion on how a Project Management Information System could look like in the multi-project organization IKEA AB. In order to control and monitor, this study also includes performance measurements, in the form of KPIs, into the Project Management Information System.   Background: In today’s business life many companies are a multi-project organization with several ongoing projects at the same time. By using a Project Management Information System organizations are able to monitor, control and support projects. IKEA AB described having a set project methodology, but that project managers often work in their own way, and that this lead to a problem with monitoring and supporting project.   Methodology: The methodological approach in the study is action research. The contacts and interviews were conducted thru a semi-structured approach with people related to projects in different ways, project managers and management board members.   Findings: The findings of the study are that projects at IKEA AB are not conducted in a cohesive way. The suggestion for a Project Management Information System at IKEA AB containing of several parts; the system need to include a project plan, KPIs to monitor cost, time and resources, and project members feelings needed to be monitored during execution. The information also needed to be presented in two separate dashboards to deliver the right information to the right person.

Abstract This thesis explores the management of human resources (HR) in five star hotels located in a developing country (Malaysia). This study is particularly relevant to the hotel industry, known for its traditionally poor HR practices (e.g., a lack of employment security, training, and career development opportunity, low levels of employee involvement and an increasing number of casual employees who are paid hourly). These practices are often perceived as a solution to high labour costs and fluctuating demand prevalent in the hotel industry. However, it is often only "non-managerial" employees who are affected by poor HR practices, as more sophisticated approaches to HR practices are often taken with regard to managerial (strategic) level employees. HR practices system differentiation (HRPSD), or HR architecture, involves having more than one HR practices system within an organisation. HRPSD has been criticised in the hospitality management literature for the poor HR practices in the management of non-managerial employees, however despite this criticism, it is widely practiced by the industry. The continuation of HRPSD practices in the hotel industry suggests its importance to better understand, research and study. The aim of this research is to gain an understanding of HRPSD in a hotel industry context, and to better understand the immediate effects of such practices. While the existing literature concerning HR architecture in other industries provides some discussion of HRPSD, research and study of the concept focusing on the hotel industry is essential in providing a detailed explanation of the effect of this phenomenon, as HR practices between industries may vary. Central to this study, is an investigation of the nature of HRPSD, identification of HR intermediate outcomes, and the effects of HRPSD on hotel employees. Studying the effect of HRPSD on employees is important because employees are known to be a hotel organisations‟ most important resource. Developed based on the literature of SHRM and HR architecture, this study proposes a conceptual model that incorporates HRPSD in the SHRM model originally proposed by Schuler, Dowling, Smart, and Huber (1992). Guided by this model, this study seeks to answer the critical questions of “how organisations differentiate their HR practices systems” and “what are the corresponding HR intermediate outcomes?” A particular foci of this thesis relates to how the concept of a “strategic” (or managerial) job is conceptualised in the hotel industry, what the elements of HR practices systems in five-star hotels are, how and why hotel organisations differentiate their HR practices systems, what the HR intermediate outcomes of HRPSD are and how HRPSD relates to the identified HR intermediate outcomes. To answer these complex research issues, a multiple case research methodology is employed, utilising a series of in depth semi-structured interviews. This vi study focuses specifically on five-star hotels in Malaysia because HR practices vary among hotels of various sizes. The findings indicate a notable effect of HRPSD on employees‟ motivation, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and retention, and that excessive differentiation is not beneficial for a five star hotel. In this study only certain HR practices were found to be differentiated; selective staffing, extensive training, compensation and empowerment. HR practices that were applied to all employees without differentiation were a clear job description, orientation, employment security, objective performance appraisal, career development opportunity and effective communication. In addition, this study also provides a clear definition of the strategic job in the hotel industry, and demonstrates the importance of HR practices integration and the influence of internal and external environments on the formation of HR strategy. This research contributes to theory as well as hotel sector policy and practice. Theoretically, it has identified how HRPSD links to firm performance (in Malaysian five star hotels). In addition, it provides clear definitions and understanding of the strategic job concept as well as identification of HR practices system elements and their differentiation in five-star hotels. Furthermore, the theoretical framework developed can be useful for future quantitative studies which can test the model formulated in this study. For practitioners, the detailed examination of HR practices system elements and how they are differentiated may guide them in their future HR strategy formation.

Abstract This thesis explores the management of human resources (HR) in five star hotels located in a developing country (Malaysia). This study is particularly relevant to the hotel industry, known for its traditionally poor HR practices (e.g., a lack of employment security, training, and career development opportunity, low levels of employee involvement and an increasing number of casual employees who are paid hourly). These practices are often perceived as a solution to high labour costs and fluctuating demand prevalent in the hotel industry. However, it is often only "non-managerial" employees who are affected by poor HR practices, as more sophisticated approaches to HR practices are often taken with regard to managerial (strategic) level employees. HR practices system differentiation (HRPSD), or HR architecture, involves having more than one HR practices system within an organisation. HRPSD has been criticised in the hospitality management literature for the poor HR practices in the management of non-managerial employees, however despite this criticism, it is widely practiced by the industry. The continuation of HRPSD practices in the hotel industry suggests its importance to better understand, research and study. The aim of this research is to gain an understanding of HRPSD in a hotel industry context, and to better understand the immediate effects of such practices. While the existing literature concerning HR architecture in other industries provides some discussion of HRPSD, research and study of the concept focusing on the hotel industry is essential in providing a detailed explanation of the effect of this phenomenon, as HR practices between industries may vary. Central to this study, is an investigation of the nature of HRPSD, identification of HR intermediate outcomes, and the effects of HRPSD on hotel employees. Studying the effect of HRPSD on employees is important because employees are known to be a hotel organisations‟ most important resource. Developed based on the literature of SHRM and HR architecture, this study proposes a conceptual model that incorporates HRPSD in the SHRM model originally proposed by Schuler, Dowling, Smart, and Huber (1992). Guided by this model, this study seeks to answer the critical questions of “how organisations differentiate their HR practices systems” and “what are the corresponding HR intermediate outcomes?” A particular foci of this thesis relates to how the concept of a “strategic” (or managerial) job is conceptualised in the hotel industry, what the elements of HR practices systems in five-star hotels are, how and why hotel organisations differentiate their HR practices systems, what the HR intermediate outcomes of HRPSD are and how HRPSD relates to the identified HR intermediate outcomes. To answer these complex research issues, a multiple case research methodology is employed, utilising a series of in depth semi-structured interviews. This vi study focuses specifically on five-star hotels in Malaysia because HR practices vary among hotels of various sizes. The findings indicate a notable effect of HRPSD on employees‟ motivation, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and retention, and that excessive differentiation is not beneficial for a five star hotel. In this study only certain HR practices were found to be differentiated; selective staffing, extensive training, compensation and empowerment. HR practices that were applied to all employees without differentiation were a clear job description, orientation, employment security, objective performance appraisal, career development opportunity and effective communication. In addition, this study also provides a clear definition of the strategic job in the hotel industry, and demonstrates the importance of HR practices integration and the influence of internal and external environments on the formation of HR strategy. This research contributes to theory as well as hotel sector policy and practice. Theoretically, it has identified how HRPSD links to firm performance (in Malaysian five star hotels). In addition, it provides clear definitions and understanding of the strategic job concept as well as identification of HR practices system elements and their differentiation in five-star hotels. Furthermore, the theoretical framework developed can be useful for future quantitative studies which can test the model formulated in this study. For practitioners, the detailed examination of HR practices system elements and how they are differentiated may guide them in their future HR strategy formation.