TY - JOUR A1 - Havinga, Reinout A1 - Kool, Anneleen A1 - Achille, Frederic A1 - Bavcon, Joze A1 - Berg, Christian A1 - Bonomi, Costantino A1 - Burkart, Michael A1 - De Meyere, Dirk A1 - Havstrom, Mats A1 - Kessler, Paul A1 - Knickmann, Barbara A1 - Koester, Nils A1 - Martinez, Remy A1 - Ostgaard, Havard A1 - Ravnjak, Blanka A1 - Scheen, Anne-Cathrine A1 - Smith, Pamela A1 - Smith, Paul A1 - Socher, Stephanie A. A1 - Vange, Vibekke T1 - The Index Seminum: Seeds of change for seed exchange JF - Taxon N2 - Botanic gardens have been exchanging seeds through seed catalogues for centuries. In many gardens, these catalogues remain an important source of plant material. Living collections have become more relevant for genetic analysis and derived research, since genomics of non-model organisms heavily rely on living material. The range of species that is made available annually on all seed lists combined, provides an unsurpassed source of instantly accessible plant material for research collections. Still, the Index Seminum has received criticism in the past few decades. The current exchange model dictates that associated data is manually entered into each database. The amount of time involved and the human errors occurring in this process are difficult to justify when the data was initially produced as a report from another database. The authors propose that an online marketplace for seed exchange should be established, with enhanced search possibilities and downloadable accession data in a standardised format. Such online service should preferably be supervised and coordinated by Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). This manuscript is the outcome of a workshop on July 9th, 2015, at the European botanic gardens congress "Eurogard VII" in Paris, where the first two authors invited members of the botanic garden community to discuss how the anachronistic Index Seminum can be transformed into an improved and modern tool for seed exchange. KW - database KW - Index Seminum KW - information technology KW - living collections management KW - Nagoya-protocol KW - seed exchange Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.12705/652.9 SN - 0040-0262 SN - 1996-8175 VL - 65 SP - 333 EP - 336 PB - International Association for Plant Taxonomy CY - Bratislava ER - TY - THES A1 - Sühlo, Bertram T1 - Politik des Projektmanagements : mikropolitische Analysen zu Entscheidungsprozessen in IT-Projekten T1 - Politics of the project management : micro-political analyses to decision-making processes in IT-projects N2 - In der hier vorliegenden Dissertation wurden anhand einer empirischen Fallstudie die Entscheidungs- und Aushandlungsprozesse zwischen Auftraggeber und Auftragnehmer in IT-Projekten analysiert und auf diesem Wege die Handlungszwänge des Projektmanagements beleuchtet. Damit sollte ein Beitrag zum näheren Verständnis der Eigendynamik von IT-Projekten und zur Wirkungsweise der gängigen Ansätze von Projektmanagement und QM geleistet werden. In dieser Arbeit wurden IT-Projekte und die Empfehlungen zum Projektmanagement aus politik- und organisationstheoretischer Perspektive beleuchtet, um Effekte begrenzter Rationalität, opportunistischen Verhalten und Inkrementalismus mit berücksichtigen zu können. Theoretische Ausgangspunkte für die Untersuchung sind auf der einen Seite die mikropolitischen Ansätze und auf der anderen Seite die Agenturtheorie. Gemeinsam ist diesen Ansätzen, die Auffassung, wonach das Handeln der Akteure in ergebnisoffenen, interdependenten Handlungskonstellationen stattfindet, in denen die Auswirkungen von Entscheidungen wenig bekannt sind und die benötigten Informationen den Akteuren in unterschiedlichem Maße zur Verfügung stehen. Bezüglich der Empfehlungen des Projektmanagements wurde auf Normen und Richtlinien sowie die Einführungs- und Praxisliteratur zum Projekt- und Qualitätsmanagement und zur Verwaltungs- und Organisationsberatung Bezug genommen. Die Fallstudie bezieht sich auf ein Realisierungsprojekt zur Einführung eines Personalmanagementsystems in einem Ministerium und seinen nachgeordneten Behörden. Das Projekt fand im Rahmen eines umfassenden Modernisierungsprogramms nach dem NSM statt und legte erstmals einen Schwerpunkt auf das Personalmanagement. Das Vorhaben war ursprünglich in drei Phasen von jeweils einem Jahr Laufzeit geplant. Mit der Realisierung wurde ein Konsortium aus drei Firmen beauftragt. Die Studie bezieht sich auf die erste der drei Phasen der Systemeinführung, die Pilotierungsphase in drei Pilotbehörden. Diese Phase beanspruchte insgesamt zwei Jahre und acht Monate und hatte damit ein Jahr und acht Monate Verspätung vor allem wegen wechselnden Ziel- und Aufgabenstellungen durch das Ministerium und aufgrund interner Steuerungsdefizite und Entscheidungsblockaden auf beiden Seiten. Die Entwicklung einer Schnittstelle in die Personalabrechnung wurde erfolglos abgebrochen. Hauptergebnis der Arbeit ist, dass die Anwendung von Methoden und Instrumenten, die in den Projektmanagement-Leitfäden bereitgestellt werden, stets den jeweils individuellen Interessen der Akteure unterliegen und als Bausteine der akteursspezifischen Strategien fungieren. Dabei führen insbesondere Strategien der Unsicherheitsabsorption, die auf die gegenseitige Kontrolle von Auftraggeber und Auftragnehmer hinauslaufen, zu unproduktiven, sich selbst verstärkende Blockadezyklen („Circuli vitiosi“), aus denen die Akteure nur durch Strategiewechsel ausbrechen können. Zwischen Auftraggeber und Auftragnehmer besteht eine strukturelle Informationsasymmetrie, weil der Auftragnehmer über die fachlichen-technischen Aspekte und über den aktuellen Projektstand besser informiert ist als der Auftraggeber. Gleichzeitig besteht jedoch auch eine entgegen gesetzte Entscheidungsasymmetrie, bei der der Auftraggeber formale Entscheidungsbefugnisse an sich ziehen kann und im Konfliktfall über das größere Drohpotenzial verfügt. Diese wird durch die Rechtsform des Werkvertrags verstärkt. Die Leitfäden des Projektmanagements werden hierbei zwar angewendet, doch die Anwendung beschränkt sich auf fachlich-operative Aspekte der Projektdurchführung, in denen die Empfehlungen einen hinreichenden Konkretisierungsgrad erreicht haben. Nur unzureichend umgesetzt werden jedoch die Empfehlungen zu politisch-strategischen Problemen, deren Anwendung entweder einen komplexen strategischen Entscheidungsprozess erfordert oder zwischen den Vertragsparteien strittig ist. Als äußerst kritisch lässt sich vor allem der Umgang mit dem Leistungsumfang im Projektverlauf bezeichnen, die von Seiten des Auftraggebers häufig im Projektverlauf verändert wird. Hier kollidiert das Gebot der Unabänderlichkeit der Leistungsbeschreibung mit den vitalen Interessen des Auftraggebers, und es zeigt sich anhand der Fallstudie, dass die vertrauensvolle Zusammenarbeit beider Vertragsparteien nötig ist, um zu eine befriedigenden Lösung zu gelangen. Gelingt dies nicht, so kann das Projekt nur mit Hilfe so genannter starker Ideologien wie dem NSM in einer Art Krisenmanagement fortgeführt werden, bedarf aber dann der strategischen Neuorientierung z.B. in Form von Personalwechsel oder Reorganisationen. Im Fallstudienprojekt hat sich herausgestellt, dass, eine Analyse der spezifischen Akteursstrategien (Policy-Analyse) den Akteuren helfen kann, die Ausgangskonstellationen besser zu verstehen und die eigene Strategie auf ihre Konsens- oder Durchsetzungsfähigkeit hin zu justieren. Hier halten die Leitfäden zum Projektmanagement jedoch keine befriedigenden Handlungsanweisungen bereit. N2 - In the here available thesis on the basis of an empirical case study the decision making processes between clients and contractor in IT-projects were analyzed and in this way the compulsions to act of the project management were lit up. Thus a contribution should be made to the closer understanding of the self-dynamics of IT-projects and to the impact of the usual beginnings of project management and quality management. In this work IT-projects and the recommendations regarding the project management were lit up out of politics-scientifically and organization-theoretical perspective, in order to be able to consider effects of limited rationality, opportunistic behaviour and incrementalism. Theoretical starting points for the investigation are on the one side the micro-political approaches and on the other side the agency theory. These approaches have the conception in common according to which acting of the participants takes place in result-open, interdependent action constellations, in which the effects of decisions are few known and the needed information is available to the participants in different degree. Concerning the recommendations of the project management on standards and guidelines as well as the introduction and practice literature to the project and quality management and for the administrative and system information purchase was taken. The case study refers to a realization project for the introduction of a personnel management system in a Ministry and its subordinate authorities. The project took place in the context of a comprehensive modernization program according to the New Public Management and put for the first time an emphasis on the personnel management. The project was originally planned by in three phases in each case one year running time. The realization a consortium of three companies was assigned. The study refers to first of the three phases of the system introduction, the pilot phase with three pilot authorities. This phase lasted altogether two years and eight months and had thereby one year and eight months delay particularly because of changing a setting of tasks and goal by the Ministry and due to internal control deficits and decision blockades on both sides. The development of an interface into the personnel account was unsuccessfully cancelled. Main result of the work is that the use of methods and instruments, which are made available in the project management manuals, are always subject to the individual interests of the participants and the participant-specific strategies. Thereby particular strategies of the uncertainty absorption, which come down to mutual control of client and contractor, lead to unproductive, intensifying blockade cycles („Circuli vitiosi “), of which the participants can break out only by changes of strategy. Between clients and contractors a structural information asymmetry exists, because the contractor is better informed about the technical-technical aspects and about the current project conditions than the client. At the same time however also a contrarious decision asymmetry exists, with that the client can accroach formal powers of decision making and has the larger threat potential available in the conflict situation. This is strengthened by the legal form of the fixed price contract. The manuals of the project management are here used, but application is limited to technical-operational aspects of the implementation of the project, in which the recommendations achieved a sufficient concretisation degree. However the recommendations are only insufficiently applied regarding politico strategic problems, whose application either require a complex strategic decision-making process or is contentious between the Contracting Parties. Extremely critical is above all designated the handling of the scope definition within the project course, which is changed by the client frequently in the course of the project. Here the requirement of the unalterability of the performance specification collides with the vital interests of the client, and it shows up on the basis the case study that the trusting co-operation of both Contracting Parties is necessary, in order to arrive at a satisfying solution. If this does not succeed, then the project can be continued only with the help of strong ideologies such as the New Public Management in a kind of crisis management, it requires however then the strategic re-orientation e.g. in the form of personnel change or reorganizations. In the case study project it turned out that, an analysis of the specific participant strategies (Policy analysis) can help the participants to understand the output constellations better and to adjust the own strategy on its penetration ability or consent. Here the manuals hold no satisfying procedural instructions ready to the project management however. KW - Projektmanagement KW - Organisationstheorie KW - Mikropolitik KW - Informationstechnik KW - Agency-Theorie KW - Project management KW - organizational theory KW - micro politics KW - information technology KW - Agency theory Y1 - 2008 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-27346 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wotschack, Philip A1 - Vladova, Gergana A1 - de Paiva Lareiro, Patricia A1 - Thim, Christof T1 - Learning via assistance systems in industrial manufacturing BT - an experimental study in an Industry 4.0 environment JF - Journal of workplace learning N2 - Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how learning solely via an assistance system influences work performance compared with learning with a combination of an assistance system and additional training. While the training literature has widely emphasised the positive role of on-the-job training, particularly for groups that are often underrepresented in formalised learning situations, organisational studies have stressed the risks that emerge when holistic process knowledge is lacking and how this negatively affects work performance. This study aims at testing these negative effects within an experimental design. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a laboratory experimental design to investigate how assistance-system-guided learning influences the individuals’ work performance and work satisfaction compared with assistance-system-guided learning combined with theoretical learning of holistic process knowledge. Subjects were divided into two groups and assigned to two different settings. In the first setting, the participants used the assistance systems as an orientation and support tool right at the beginning and learned the production steps exclusively in this way. In the second setting, subjects received an additional 10-min introduction (treatment) at the beginning of the experiment, including detailed information regarding the entire work process. Findings This study provides evidence that learners provided with prior process knowledge achieve a better understanding of the work process leading to higher levels of productivity, quality and work satisfaction. At the same time, the authors found evidence for differences among workers’ ability to process and apply this additional information. Subjects with lower productivity levels faced more difficulties processing and applying additional process information. Research limitations/implications Methodologically, this study goes beyond existing research on assistance systems by using a laboratory experimental design. Though the external validity of this method is limited by the artificial setting, it is a solid way of studying the impact of different usages of digital assistance systems in terms of training. Further research is required, however, including laboratory experiments with larger case numbers, company-level case studies and analyses of survey data, to further confirm the external validity of the findings of this study for the workplace. Practical implications This study provides some first evidence that holistic process knowledge, even in low-skill tasks, has an added value for the production process. This study contributes to firms' training policies by exploring new, digitalised ways of guided on-the-job training and demonstrates possible training benefits for people with lower levels of (initial) abilities and motivation. Social implications This study indicates the advantage for companies and societies to invest in additional skills and training and points at the limitations of assistance systems. This paper also contributes to training policies by exploring new, digitalised ways of guided on-the-job training and demonstrates possible training benefits for people with lower levels of (initial) abilities and motivation. Originality/value This study extends existing research on digital assistance systems by investigating their role in job-related-training. This paper contributes to labour sociology and organisational research by confirming the importance of holistic process knowledge as opposed to a solely task-oriented digital introduction. KW - information technology KW - training KW - knowledge KW - workplace learning KW - new technology Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-09-2022-0119 SN - 1366-5626 SN - 1758-7859 VL - 35 IS - 9 SP - 235 EP - 258 PB - Emerald CY - Bradford ER -