Effective supply chain management gains much attention from industry and academia because it helps firms across a supply chain to reduce cost and improve customer service level efficiently. Focusing on one of the key challenges of the supply chains, namely, demand uncertainty, this dissertation extends the work of Zhao, Xie, and Leung so as to examine the effects of forecasting method selection coupled with information sharing on supply chain performance in a dynamic business environment. The results of this study showed that under various scenarios, advanced forecasting methods such as neural network and GARCH models play a more significant role when capacity tightness increases and is more important to the retailers than to the supplier under certain circumstances in terms of supply chain costs. Thus, advanced forecasting models should be promoted in supply chain management. However, this study also demonstrated that forecasting methods not capable of modeling features of certain demand patterns significantly impact a supply chain's performance. That is, a forecasting method misspecified for characteristics of the demand pattern usually results in higher supply chain costs. Thus, in practice, supply chain managers should be cognizant of the cost impact of selecting commonly used traditional forecasting methods, such as moving average and exponential smoothing, in conjunction with various operational and environmental factors, to keep supply chain cost under control. This study demonstrated that when capacity tightness is high for the supplier, information sharing plays a more important role in effective supply chain management. In addition, this study also showed that retailers benefit directly from information sharing when advanced forecasting methods are employed under certain conditions.

This case study of the use of hospital accident and emergency records to safeguard children was triggered by Lord Laming’s inquiry into the care of Victoria Climbié, his follow up report, and government legislation since 1948. Research on the use of documentation for safeguarding children is limited, although serious case reviews consistently indicate, that across agencies, record keeping, and the sharing of pertinent information to identify patterns of maltreatment is poor. The social constructed meaning people place on hospital documentation relating to children’s safety and the perceived intentions of conveying that information within and between social environments are the focus of this research. A hermeneutic framework was used to identify how staff in A&E and other agencies perceive the use of A&E child records (birth -16 years). The investigation was in three stages (a) analysis of a purposive sample of 378 A&E children’s records, (b) a focus group with twelve A&E staff on the case study site and (c) another group with twelve members of the Local Operational Child Protection group. Colaizzi’s approach and the hermeneutic circle were the methods utilised to provide a rich description of the essential structure of the phenomenon. The results reveal that although written records are good tools for communication, records are not sufficiently child focused and risks factors are not always recognised. Consequently, the ability of the professional to provide information to safeguard children is limited. The data also highlights professional communication as the central theme, because this seemed to describe and unify the participants’ practices in a way that made sense. The findings of this study indicate that the behaviour of staff plays a crucial role in recording information. They are influenced by factors that are multi-faceted with the complexities of meanings that include social, economic, emotional, cultural, political and technical elements. A new theoretical framework to understand the complex interaction of professional perspectives within the varied situations that occur in clinical practice is proposed. This is underpinned by a constructivist epistemology. This provides an efficient method for evaluating the overall behaviour of the major components that affect documentation and communication, and highlights the recurring problems that arise from these areas when safeguarding children. Hence, this study provides an original contribution to knowledge concerning information sharing in the field of child protection. As a result of the findings of this study A&E records have been redesigned locally.

This thesis focuses on investigating inter-departmental Electronic Information Sharing (EIS) through Inter-organisational Systems (IOS) in the context of Local Government Authorities (LGAs) in England and Wales. There is an increasing demand to involve LGA departments in sharing information electronically in order to reduce the cost of storing and managing data, increase the level of data accuracy and timeliness and improve the accountability of the authority. During the last decades, several LGAs in the United Kingdom have started to employ IOSs to support information sharing and networked collaboration within their departments in order to meet a diverse range of citizen needs including housing services, social care services and education services. However, reaching a great level of crossdepartmental collaboration is not easy and requires additional time and effort. Normative literature proposed various models and frameworks that examine various issues and factors influencing the effort of EIS in the private and public domain. However, the applicability and validity of those models in the context of LGAs is arguable. Therefore, this research proposes and validates a novel conceptual framework that can be used as a tool for decision-making while sharing information electronically. The framework consists of four main levels: (a) investigation and presentation of factors influencing Electronic Information Sharing in LGAs based on external environment, organisational capacity, technology environment, EIS characteristics and inter-departmental environment, (b) investigation and presentation of the phases that departments adopt while participating in the EIS effort, (c) mapping of the influential factors onto the participation phases and (d) prioritisation of the factors influencing EIS in LGAs in relation to different phases. By validating the conceptual framework through using a qualitative, interpretive, multiple case study research strategy, this thesis attempts to contribute to the theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of inter-departmental EIS. Despite the results of the cases cannot be generalised, yetthey can allow others to relate their views with the onesreported in this thesis.

The aim of this bachelor thesis is to explore the information literacy of newly arrived people and to obtain knowledge about how they are looking for important information. The research questions are as follows: How do newly arrived people access information in the new society? What strategies do they use to overcome the difficulties/obstacles?How do newly arrived people learn about being information literate? Previous research has examined the importance of information literacy of newly arrived people and discussed how they are looking for important information. In this work, in order to gain an empirical insight, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven women from Syria. The timeframe for the collection of this empirical data was more than two months. The results conveyed that the ‘newly arrived people’ are looking for important information by friends, relatives and social network. Said individuals have a tendancy to spend copious amounts of time to gain reliable and relevant information. Likewise, newly arrived people are in need of more support which would require further facilitation when entering into the labour market and integrating into society. The analysis also provided traits of newly arrived people needing more support and help learning about information literacy. What can be concluded, is that the newly arrived people did not have enough knowledge about library instructions when offering services. Among other issues, the results showed a great interest in culture, as well as an ambition to learn language and more about society, especially the new arrivals whom are looking for jobs despite the fact that they have been in the country for a short period.

Processing Production Centre Lund (PPCL) är en affärsenhet inom Tetra Pak-koncernen som tillverkar processutrustning, förpacknings- och fyllningsmaskiner för livsmedel. I denna produktion är materialbrister vanligt förekommande vilket leder till kostsamma expressleveranser och icke värdeskapande arbete. Studiens mål är att identifiera problemkällor samt presentera förbättringsförslag för att minska antalet materialbrister i syfte att öka PPCLs leveransprecision, minska förekomsten av icke värdeskapande arbete samt reducera användandet av expressfrakt. Med hjälp av observationer, intervjuer och litteraturstudier har företagets arbetsprocesser kartlagts. Genom att jämföra de observerade arbetsprocesserna med de föreskrivna har de föreskrivna arbetsprocesserna konstaterats vara alltför generellt beskrivna, och ibland föråldrade, för att vara direkt tillämpbara för de anställda. Med flödesanalysmetoder har icke värdeskapande arbete belysts, problemkällor för delprocesser har påvisats och alternativa arbetsprocesser har föreslagits. Denna studie föreslår processutbildning för företagets anställda och bättre informationsdelning vid processuppdateringar. Detta skulle medföra en större insikt om hur egna handlingar påverkar andra samt leda till mer standardiserade arbetssätt. Vidare rekommenderas att de anställda tas med i arbetet med att ta fram detaljerade arbetsprocesser, bland annat för att utnyttja fördelarna med etablerade workarounds. Denna studie föreslår en ny process att följa vid ändringar i materialbehov, vilken skulle leda till bättre informerade materialval i tidigare skede. Dessutom rekommenderas striktare riktlinjer för när ändringar i materialval ska accepteras av PPCL utan förbehåll. Vidare klarlägger studien problem med de data som finns tillgängliga i Tetra Paks affärssystem. Felaktiga parametrar gällande ledtider på material från leverantörer och outnyttjade hjälpmedel vad gäller material som avbeställs eller ersätts leder ofta till materialbrister i produktionen. Studien lyfter fram standardiserade arbetsmetoder samt jämnare fördelning av arbetsbelastning för dem anställda som möjliga åtgärder till dessa problem. Stora materialgrupper som innefattar material med lång leveranstid leder ofta till materialbrist när behovet specificeras i ett sent skede. Denna studie föreslår artikelstandardisering och ett bättre informationsflöde mellan inköp och den som specificerar materialbehovet. Detta skulle minska uppkomsten av materialbrister. Ett annat problemområde som tas upp i studien är uppdelningen av de två affärsenheterna som är inblandade i orderflödet. Underutvecklade processer, dubbelarbete och få kommunikationskanaler är några av de problem som tas upp. Tvärorganisatoriska förbättringsprojekt förespråkas i studien för att förbättra och effektivisera detta samarbete för att i förlängningen minska antalet materialbrister. Slutligen rekommenderas att de ledtider som utlovas till slutkunderna ses över för att spegla verkliga ledtider på ett mer korrekt sätt. Felaktiga ledtider dömer produktionen till ett arbete under tidspress vilket innebär att det kontinuerliga förbättringsarbetet försakas.

The UN and NATO have implemented separate approaches to civilian-military cooperation. Central in both approaches is a need for information sharing between civilian and military actors. Without shared information, cooperative planning becomes impossible. For military actors secret information makes sharing difficult and for civilian actors, principles hinder close cooperation. Scholars in the field of intelligence study have identified that states and organizations share information if the benefits of such, outweigh costs and risks. This thesis examines institutional differences between the UN mission MINUSMA in Mali and NATO mission ISAF in Afghanistan, in order to better understand how institutional factors, affect sharing of information. With an outset in Rational Choice Institutionalism and by use of Elinor Ostrom’s Institutional Development and Analysis Framework, an analytical instrument is designed. Through inductive review of interviews, first-hand accounts and reports; factors that drive, enable and hinder civilian-military sharing are indicated. The thesis indicates that the institutional framework of MINUSMA forms interdependency between civilian and military actors, while sharing in ISAF was enabled only when common goals were agreed upon. Military and civilian actors, in both MINUSMA and ISAF point to unclear mandates and vague goals as primary barriers to civilian-military sharing.

Self-directed work groups are a growing phenomenon in the field of organisational psychology (Kauffeld, 2006; Neck & Manz, 1994). While much is known about what factors affect information sharing in these kinds of groups, little is known about why these factors have an impact and how they relate to each other. Through the concept of hidden profiles (tasks that by nature have shared and unshared information), this study explored the information sharing and group decision making processes and aimed to illuminate the group processes involved. The study employed a qualitative, ideographic approach where case studies were used. The sample consisted of twenty four undergraduate and postgraduate students studying at the University of the Witwatersrand divided into groups of four members each. A group task to rank the best candidate for a job was self-designed based on the theory and design utilized by Stasser and Titus (1985; 1987). This was first completed individually and then as a group – the group discussion was filmed and coded using a self-developed observation rubric. Participants also completed a self-developed post-task questionnaire regarding their perspectives of various aspects of the decision making process. The analysis was carried out using frequency counts and thematic content analysis. It was found that all the groups discussed more shared information and more unshared negative information was discussed than unshared positive information. Information sharing increased when there was debate about which pieces of information were relevant. In most cases, group members were motivated to share information because they wanted to have their opinion heard. Although the majority of the sample stated that they did not withhold any information, there was evidence of strategic information sharing. Group 5 made a decision that was closest to the ideal decision. Characteristics of this group that could have contributed to this included: long duration of discussion; high number of talking turns; respecting each other’s talking turns; moderate levels of disagreement; no obvious role of leader; moderately high levels of group familiarity; diversity in race not gender; similar educational backgrounds and a norm of critical evaluation. The study found that the interactions between factors that were perceived to affect the information sharing and decision-making (such as duration of discussion, number of talking turns, group familiarity, competitive aspects, group composition and group roles) were more interwoven than previously thought.

The dynamic structure of the Food Supply Chain (FSC) distinguishes itself from other supply chains. Providing food to customers in a healthy and fresh manner necessitates a significant effort on the part of manufacturers and retailers. In practice, while these partners collaboratively forecast time-sensitive and / or short-life product-groups (e.g. perishable, seasonal, promotional and newly launched products), they confront significant challenges which prevent them from generating accurate forecasts and conducting long-term collaborations. Partners’ challenges are not limited only to the fluctuating demand of time-sensitive product-groups and continuously evolving consumer choices, but are also largely related to their conflicting expectations. Partners’ contradictory expectations mainly occur during the practices of integration, forecasting and information exchange in the FSC. This research specifically focuses on the Collaborative Forecasting (CF) practices in the FSC. However, CF is addressed from the manufacturers’ point of view, when they collaboratively forecast perishable, seasonal, promotional and newly launched products with retailers in the FSC. The underlying reasons are that while there is a paucity of research studying CF from the manufacturers’ standpoint, associated product-groups decay at short notice and their demand is influenced by uncertain consumer behaviour and the dynamic environment of FSC. The aim of the research is to identify factors that have a significant influence on the CF performance. Generating accurate forecasts over the aforementioned product-groups and sustaining long-term collaborations (one year or more) between partners are the two major performance criteria of CF in this research. This research systematically reviews the literature on Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR), which combines the supply chain practices of upstream and downstream members by linking their planning, forecasting and replenishment operations. The review also involves the research themes of supply chain integration, forecasting process and information sharing. The reason behind reviewing these themes is that partners’ CF is not limited to forecasting practices, it also encapsulates the integration of chains and bilateral information sharing for accurate forecasts. A single semi-structured interview with a UK based food manufacturer and three online group discussions on the business oriented social networking service of LinkedIn enrich the research with pragmatic and qualitative data, which are coded and analysed via software package QSR NVivo 9. Modifying the results of literature review through the qualitative data makes it possible to develop a rigorous conceptual model and associated hypotheses. Then, a comprehensive online survey questionnaire is developed to be delivered to food manufacturers located in the UK & Ireland, North America and Europe. An exploratory data analysis technique using Partial Least Squares (PLS) guides the research to analyse the online survey questionnaire empirically. The most significant contributions of this research are (i) to extend the body of literature by offering a new CF practice, aiming to improve forecast accuracy and long-term collaborations, and (ii) to provide managerial implications by offering a rigorous conceptual model guiding practitioners to implement the CF practice, for the achievement of accurate forecasts and long-term collaborations. In detail, the research findings primarily emphasise that manufacturers’ interdepartmental integration plays a vital role for successful CF and integration with retailers. Effective integration with retailers encourages manufacturers to conduct stronger CF in the FSC. Partners’ forecasting meetings are another significant factor for CF while the role of forecasters in these meetings is crucial too, implying forecasters’ indirect influence on CF. Complementary to past studies, this research further explores the manufacturers’ various information sources that are significant for CF and which should be shared with retailers. It is also significant to maintain the quality level of information whilst information is shared with retailers. This result accordingly suggests that the quality level of information is obliquely important for CF. There are two major elements that contribute to the literature. Firstly, relying on the particular product-groups in the FSC and examining CF from the manufacturers’ point of view not only closes a pragmatic gap in the literature, but also identifies new areas for future studies in the FSC. Secondly, the CF practice of this research demonstrates the increasing forecast satisfaction of manufacturers over the associated product-groups. Given the subjective forecast expectations of manufacturers, due to organisational objectives and market dynamics, demonstrating the significant impact of the CF practice on the forecast satisfaction leads to generalising its application to the FSC. Practitioners need to avail themselves of this research when they aim to collaboratively generate accurate forecasts and to conduct long-term collaborations over the associated product-groups. The benefits of this research are not limited to the FSC. Manufacturers in other industries can benefit from the research while they collaborate with retailers over similar product-groups having a short shelf life and / or necessitating timely and reliable forecasts. In addition, this research expands new research fields to academia in the areas of the supply chain, forecasting and information exchange, whilst it calls the interest of academics to particular product-groups in the FSC for future research. Nevertheless, this research is limited to dyad manufacturer-retailer forecast collaborations over a limited range of product-groups. This is another opportunity for academics to extend this research to different types of collaborations and products.

The thesis focuses on the impact of the EU Directive (2002/14/EC), which was incorporated into UK employment law, with its phased implementation starting on 6th April 2005. The empirical evidence is based on a survey and predominantly on case-study research that involved interviews with: managers, employees and trade union representatives, together with the collection of relevant documentary evidence. The empirical findings, especially for the non-unionised sector, indicate that the reflexive nature of the Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations has mainly stimulated the development of organisation-specific or tailor-made information and consultation arrangements, which minimally comply with the legislative provisions. Moreover, the development of such arrangements is primarily based on the ad hoc momentum that is generated by business pressures (i.e. collective redundancies, transfer of undertakings etc) and can be viewed as reflecting the conceptual framework of legislatively prompted voluntarism. The ICE Directive is aimed at bringing a consistency to the establishment of basic and standard information and consultation arrangements across the workplaces in Great Britain. Subsequently, it should promote the harmonisation of employee participation practices amongst the UK and other EU countries, as it has the goal of ensuring that there is a minimum floor of rights in relation to information sharing and consultation with employees. Nevertheless, the Europeanisation of British industrial relations cannot instantly take place through the adoption of such EU directives. With regard to this research endeavour, it emerges that the extant national idiosyncrasies cannot be substantially altered, whilst business pressures and employers’ goodwill continue to be key drivers in the development of employee participation and consultation arrangements in Great Britain, albeit within the newly adopted legislative and statutory framework.

With the increasing popularity of information technologies, many companies try to set up a virtual network in order to share their business information. The purpose of creating such a virtual network is to create a new knowledge base on the combination of the existing knowledge. Collaboration is very necessary in such a virtual network as crass-unit collaboration takes place when people from different units work together in cross-unit teams on a common task or provide significant help to each other. Recently, co-design is an emerging technology in the field of informatics. It is considered as the development of system thinking, and it is a collaborative designing process which recruits designers, researchers, stakeholders and others together. The purpose of this collaborative activity is to sole designing problems. Therefore, if we want to increase collaboration in a co-design process, we need to look at a ways of increasing the efficiency of collaboration. The rapid development of accessible, reliable, and user-friendly information technology offers improvements to traditional collaboration, and makes new approaches possible. Many platforms for the exchange of information such as the Internet, email, and video-conferencing are well established aids to collaborative activities. Therefore, my research investigates to create an efficient virtual network for a co-design process. In this research, I will try to investigate that what is the need of a virtual network for co-design process and what are those virtual network soft-wares which can help us in a co-design process. My research discussion is related to the theory of CSCW (Computer Supported cooperative work). / Program: Magisterutbildning i informatik