Although Operational Research (OR) has successfully provided many methodologies to address complex decision problems, in particular based on the rationality principle, there has been too little discussion regarding their limited consideration in IT evaluation practice and associated decision making satisfaction levels in an organisational context. The aim of this paper is to address these issues through providing a current account of diffusion and infusion of OR methodologies in IT decision making practice, and by analysing factors affecting decision making satisfaction from a Technological, Organisational, and Environmental (TOE) framework in the context of IT induced business transformations. We developed a structural equation model and conducted an empirical survey, which supported four out of five developed research hypotheses. Our results show that while Decision Support Systems (DSS), holistic IT evaluation methods, and management support seem to positively affect individual satisfaction, legislative regulation has an adverse effect. Results also revealed a persistent methodology diffusion and infusion gap. The paper discusses implications in each of these aspects and presents opportunities for future work. (authors' abstract)

Performance measurement is a growing field of study and practice within federal government. From department level agencies to unit level commands, measuring performance is critical to achieving strategic objectives within public resource constraints. Performance metrics enable federal managers entrusted with the nation's resources to make productive decisions towards operational effectiveness and economic efficiency. This thesis assesses the performance measurement system of a singular organization: Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (PHD). This assessment addresses the appropriateness and quality of existing metrics at PHD based on academic research, while also comparing performance measurement at PHD with federal guidance. Performance drivers were captured during interviews with senior managers in offices and departments at PHD. These interviews were used to gain visibility into PHD's "story of success" in terms of critical inputs, processes, and outcomes. Causal performance maps were utilized to visually depict the interaction among these performance drivers and determine common critical performance variables (CPV) across PHD. Once determined, common CPV's were analyzed and existing metrics were assessed within balance scorecard perspectives. This analysis and assessment provided a framework for comparison between PHD and the performance measurement guidance within the federal chain of command. The assessment of existing metrics and recommendations will hopefully be useful to NSWC PHD in continuing progress toward achieving strategic success. It is also hoped that this thesis will provide a common framework for performance analysis to other Naval Surface Warfare Center commands.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / Borders are monitored by a variety of moving and stationary sensors, e.g., patrol agents, video cameras, ground sensors, UAVs, etc. This paper introduces a model for a moving sensor that patrols a perimeter that is infiltrated by malevolent agents (targets). Targets arrive according to a Poisson process along the perimeter with a certain distribution of arrival location, and disappear (renege) a random amount of time after their arrival. The measures of effectiveness (MOEs) presented in this paper are the target detection rate and the time elapsed from target arrival to its detection (waiting time). We study two types of sensor trajectories that are periodic and with constant speed: 1. The sensor moves from a starting point to a certain location and then leaps instantaneously back to the starting point. 2. The sensor moves back and forth between two points. The controlled parameters (decision variables) are the beginning and end points of the patrolled sector. Properties of these trajectories are demonstrated in great generality. The results give decision makers a powerful tool for optimally deploying and operating a variety of sensors in an area of interest. / Outstanding Thesis

In this thesis we develop a new model called Medical Evacuation and Treatment Capabilities Optimization Model (METCOM) that's designed as a user friendly optimization model that augments current simulations and assists in optimizing efficiencies, allowing for redistribution, restructuring, or realignment of medical resources and materials to better meet requirements elsewhere in the area of operations (AO). The model addresses variations in capabilities and policies of the medical evacuation and treatment system (METS) in order to discern effects on desired medical outcomes. A combination of descriptive and prescriptive multi-period models were utilized in order to identify policy effect on key measures of effectiveness (MOEs) and then fully optimize treatment and evacuation capacities for given casualty flows. Results provide medical planners and decision makers with coherent and relevant data allowing for the flexibility to employ a broad range of policies and capacities that would best meet the objectives of saving warfighters' lives and minimizing resource capacity costs required while supporting the overall operational plan.

Recent Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instructions (CJCSI) direct the development of new concepts to prioritize linking budgeting and programming for near- and mid-term resource allocation planning. For the Department of Defense (DoD), planning that falls within the Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP) or 0-7 years may be viewed as mid-term. This thesis raises the question of whether these new concepts will work best for the Department of the Navy (DON) or whether another methodology would better fit the Navy's near- and mid-term needs. Further, the thesis asks whether the implementation of the recently promulgated CJCSI instructions would be more disruptive to the DON instead of an alternative modification of what the DON is already using successfully. This thesis also explores the potential value of the newly formed capability planning initiative within the DON. The Navy initiative is compared to private-sector practices to define similarities and to develop additional potentially useful methods. The thesis also explores the potential usefulness of linear programming or mathematical decision modeling for the application of weights and values to relate input variables and relationships to desired outputs. Finally, procurement narrative statements in the FY07 DON budget are analyzed and results, in terms of use of the capability concept, are reported.

This thesis provides a stochastic modeling tool to assist in the component selection process for Army Aviation's Condition-Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+) program. This work is in conjunction with the Operations Research Center of Excellence (ORCEN) at the United States Military Academy to assist in providing insight for the U.S. Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM). The component selected for this thesis is the AH-64/UH-60 T701C Turbine Helicopter Engine. Data analysis of the failure data indicated that a nonhomogeneous Poisson process appropriately modeled the failure characteristics of this engine. A Microsoft Excel simulation utilizing Crystal Ball version 5.5 compares an engine monitored by CBM+ versus the traditional Legacy system of maintenance. This simulation provides information on diagnosed faults, mission aborts, repair times, false positives, and logistical implications. This simulation is generic and can be used in comparing CBM+ candidate components for future inclusion into the CBM+ program. Results suggest when considering a component for inclusion in the CBM+ program important factors to consider are even the smallest false positive rate can invalidate process, large sensor probability of detection isn't necessary for beneficial results, and by entering a component into the CBM+ the on hand component requirements can be greatly reduced. / US Army (USA) author.

CIVINS / A decision analysis study was conducted on the process of materials selection for high-speed naval craft using the Modified Digital Logic (MDL) method. The purpose is to show how this method along with Ashby's material selection process can be integrated to provide a comprehensive tool designed specifically for light-weight material optimization. Using Ashby's Material Selection Charts and the MDL method, a step by step material selection process is outlined. Furthermore, a comparison of the materials based on equivalent plate uni-axial ideal elastic compressive stress was completed using the American Bureau of Shipbuilding (ABS) Guide for Building and Classing High-Speed Naval Craft and then an evaluation was done to optimize material selection depending on the designer's preference for weight and cost, The potential materials for evaluation were selected using Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) references for the most current materials in use, or being evaluated, for light weight naval construction. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using the MDL method to select one or more materials based on desired mechanical and structural characteristics. The study also introduces the potential use of non-traditional materials in Naval Architecture, such as Ultra High-Performance Concrete Composite (UHP2C) DUCTAL. / Contract number: N62271-97-G-0026. / CIVINS

Emergency call takers listen to callers expressing mundane errands, but also to callers who describe severe accidents, agony and deaths. The emergency setting is further complicated by having to perform triage under time-pressure, but without possibilities of seeing the patient. The setting rests on an imperative of speedy management—there are few or no possibilities to postpone or reconsider decisions. At the same time, the mode of communication (telephone) may cause overflow or insufficient information, resulting in an uncertain and ambiguous decision setting. A focal point for the organization is therefore the individual capability of conducting triage. However, call takers are also helped by organizational routines, which are manifested in decision support systems, in order to navigate this uncertain and ambiguous setting. Taken together, the emergency setting brings a tension to the fore—how does this emotional setting, with features of vivid and interruptive experiences that possibly detour normative decisions, interact with routines that are supposed to provide for both stability and that recurrent decisions can be made under similar conditions? Drawing on the fields of psychology, decision making, organization theory and communication theory the tension is investigated by a series of four studies. The first study is a field study of the emotional landscape of emergency call taking. Emergency call takers rated callers’ emotional expressions in authentic emergency calls, the level of intensity and expressed need for help. The second study is an experiment, using a speech sample from authentic emergency calls in order to find out whether expressed emotion and intensity contribute to perceived need for help. The third study focuses on management strategies of call takers. More specifically, how do emergency call takers manage double-faced emotional management—i.e., their own and the caller’s emotions—simultaneously? The fourth study focuses on how call takers make decisions, more specifically how call takers use intuitive and emotional capabilities to complement or challenge rational aspects of the decision support systems. The studies reveal that certain emotions occur more often than others and that the level of intensity of expression contributes to perceived help need. Call takers have also developed specific emotional management strategies in order to cope with both callers’ and their own emotions. Finally, call takers were found to use rational and formal routines as well as non-formal, intuitive and emotionally based individual routines in order to derive their decisions. These findings are put into organizational context in terms of implications for emergency call taking. Limitations to the development of situation-specific expertise and obstacles for organizational learning are identified. Also, emergency call taking would benefit from drawing on knowledge found outside of the medical domain. However, the most important finding is that interpretation of emotional expressions in callers’ voices can trigger modifications of the triage routine in use. / <p>Disp. June 12</p>

The purpose of this study was to explore how a small group of white South African men going through menopause attached meaning to this major event in their lives, and also how it affected the decisions they took as leaders in the financial sector. In view of the fact that menopause is a natural process that, according to the existing literature, has a strong influence on men’s behaviour, the following research question was formulated: “Do behavioural changes due to menopause ultimately affect men’s social lives, and particularly their behaviour in the work environment where as leaders they take important decisions?” In collecting data I followed a field research approach where focused interviews were used involving asking questions, listening, expressing interest and recording what was said. Five participants were selected, including myself (I provided an autoethnographic narrative). Having opted for a particular application of the grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) and in keeping within the requirements of modernist qualitative research, i.e., providing sufficient information to establish the study’s credibility, and at the same time giving the participants a voice, I conveyed the data, the findings of the study, and the inferences I made according to grounded theory’s three analytical steps namely, open coding, axial coding and selective coding. The findings indicated that menopause symptoms in particular (their physical, psychological and sexual dimensions) had a profound influence on the systemic male. The themes that I inferred from the data through continuous and systematic comparisons were related to decision-making in the work environment. This continuous comparative approach crystallised in the study’s emerging core theme, namely: “the decreased need for work power in the work environment due to psychological integration occurring during their menopause” as well as its substantive theory: “work power trade-offs result in decreased decision-making power during the male menopause phase”.

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