<p>When discussing the value of an information technology (IT) system, the most common approach is to take on the perspective of either the organization introducing the IT system or the end users. The purpose of this thesis has been to study the values of both stakeholder groups in order to define what system characteristics are the most desirable from a dual-stakeholder point of view.</p><p>Through a series of contextual inquiries, interviews and questionnaires, the value perceptions of end users and IT managers at a large European rail operator were investigated. The results of the study point to a high degree of similarity in the value perceptions of end users and IT managers, although the former were generally focused on short-term value while the latter also were concerned about long-term, sustaining value.</p><p>The findings are applicable to practitioners wishing to take a dual perspective on IT value as well as academics looking to find touch points between usability and business strategy. In the context of end users and IT managers, the most important system characteristics that maximize value for both stakeholder groups were found to be Availability, Recoverability, Efficiency, Reliability and Future Proofness.</p>

This Master thesis examines the impact of the individual driving forces of young highly educated talents from Italy and Lithuania to apply for a job abroad after the graduation. By investigating the motivations and influences during this decision-making process, we clarify the role of different impulses on the individual’s decision to become part of the phenomenon known as the global talent flow. Within this study, we obtain the actor’s view, while we use an inductive approach to put the construction of meaning of the participants in the center of our study. This aim of our qualitative study is further strengthened by the use of semi-structured interviews and the usage of the phenomenology approach. The data is analyzed and interpreted according to the emerged themes and linked back to the existing theory on‘migration’, the ‘Push-Pull-Mooring’ paradigm, the ‘gravity’ model, and the knowledge flow according to ‘brain gain’, 'brain drain’, and ‘brain circulation’. This study highlights the variety of facets which are of importance to the individuals within the decision-making process of the non-rational phenomenon of the global talent flow. Although the main motivation - the opportunity to grow - is shared among all participants, a clear distinction can be made between the ‘professional’ and the ‘personal’ growth. Furthermore, our study reveals the direct influence of initiatives taken by the European Union (EU), such as the ERASMUS+ Programme on the mobility of young talents and the impact of possible unforeseen side effects such as the ‘brain drain’ in some of the member countries of the EU. Our findings contribute another layer to the understanding of the driving forces of tomorrow’s mobile workforce to apply for a job abroad. This comprehension is fundamental to policymakers, companies, the society at larger, and the young talents themselves, as it becomes crucial to attract this ‘brain’ to secure long-term development of all stakeholders of the global talent flow within the EU.

When discussing the value of an information technology (IT) system, the most common approach is to take on the perspective of either the organization introducing the IT system or the end users. The purpose of this thesis has been to study the values of both stakeholder groups in order to define what system characteristics are the most desirable from a dual-stakeholder point of view. Through a series of contextual inquiries, interviews and questionnaires, the value perceptions of end users and IT managers at a large European rail operator were investigated. The results of the study point to a high degree of similarity in the value perceptions of end users and IT managers, although the former were generally focused on short-term value while the latter also were concerned about long-term, sustaining value. The findings are applicable to practitioners wishing to take a dual perspective on IT value as well as academics looking to find touch points between usability and business strategy. In the context of end users and IT managers, the most important system characteristics that maximize value for both stakeholder groups were found to be Availability, Recoverability, Efficiency, Reliability and Future Proofness.

In this paper we introduce an analysis framework for mobile workforce automation. The framework is based on the findings from earlier research as well as on an analysis of 27 recent case studies conducted within the field of mobile workforce automation. It consists of a general reference process for mobile work and of a model explaining influencing factors (worker, task, coordination system, information system), optimization goals and their relationships in mobile business processes. The framework can be applied to process modeling, simulation, and optimization as well as to requirements analysis and return on investment calculations. Based on the results of case study evaluation, it is furthermore shown, that recent mobile IT solutions are mainly built for relatively simple processes and cooperation models. Mobilizing more complex processes still seems to be a challenge.

Today’s world is characterised by a heavy dependence on information technology and technological devices to perform even the simplest of tasks. While this in itself is not a bad thing, our over dependence and neglect has put us in a situation where the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our information resources are continuously being questioned. ENISA (2010) report that in the third quarter of 2010 eighty million Smartphones were sold worldwide, with the UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy reporting a sixty million increment in the number of smartphone users. Reardon (2007) additionally predicted that between 2007 and 2012 there was going to be a 30% year-on-year growth in the sale of smartphones. The improvement of smartphones together with its rapidly decreasing unit price has placed smartphones within the reach of all employees. Due to the mobile nature of the device, it has brought challenges to the information security needs of organizations. As the sale of smartphone continue to increase so does the number of vulnerabilities on mobile operating systems. Knowing where to place the smartphone is of prime importance in this study. Is it just a socio-technical tool for private use or it must be extended to be used as a working tool? If so, how should it be used to limit the exposure of organizational information? The study makes use of interviews in finding out what users of the device think about the device and how secure they think their device is. The interviews also tries to find out how securely the users have configured their devices, their mobility rate and what policies have been put in place to help guide users of the device while using the device. Findings from this study indicate that smartphone threats are diverse, complicated and smart. As the price of the smartphone reduces and their functionality improves, the number of its users increases. This makes it a target for hackers and malware as they can exploit the device to gain personal and organizational data. In spite of this, the perception of users on the risks of using a smartphone for work is not as high as can be. Users still think that if only the phone is used for making and receiving calls, reading and replying to emails and checking calendar schedules, then there is nothing much to protect. In reality this is not the case. Smartphones have a lot more going on them than just the aforementioned. Users must be educated on the reality of the matter and be made aware of the current risks there are so as to increase their consciousness on this matter. Finally, the discussion in this study sheds some light on the challenges that mobility and smartphone usage for work pose to organizational information security. The choice of a counter measure depends on factors such as what kind of data the organization produces as well as what kind of usage patterns employees have. There is no one size fit all counter measure that can be implemented. Organizations must realize this and embark on the best solutions that are suitable for their organization. To get the best counter measures in place, organizations are advised to make their own risk assessments and weigh the risks against the potential benefits in their own specific cases. / <p>Validerat; 20130827 (global_studentproject_submitter)</p>

The consumer market of today is characterized by emphasis on superior customer satisfaction and personalization of services. This entails higher customer expectations on organizations, which also includes the workforce scheduling processes in which the consumers expect more decision-power to dictate what they want, when and where they want services to be delivered. For organizations that deliver on-site services, the routing aspect becomes an important part of the scheduling process. Literature on Workforce Scheduling and Routing Problems (WSRP) seldom relate to characteristics of the more dynamic consumer market. As the markets and consumer needs become more flexible, the relevance for research concerning these characteristics increases. This study addresses this by reviewing current literature and present common solution methodologies applied to WSRP, as well as the effects of the online scheduling characteristics. With this as a foundation, a discussion is provided of how WSRP and online scheduling can be combined in order to improve resource utilization and minimize travel time for an on-site service provider. The overall aim of the study is to investigate how an online WSRP with exact time windows can be formulated and solved. The result is a four-stage hybrid method including linear integer programming and constructive heuristics with the objective to minimize travel time, idle time, and the makespan in the schedules. A case study has been conducted on an on-site service provider, and by applying the proposed hybrid methodology on the case company’s scheduling process, results have been obtained that demonstrates improvements of travel time and resource utilization. The study also demonstrate that the appliance of flexible travel times and product dependent service times have positive impact on the quality of the generated schedules. A key insight is that organizations working with exact time windows have to be aware of the trade-off between customer preferences and operational efficiency in day-to-day operations. Thus, organizations have to decide what holds most importance to the organization’s long-term success.