Capturing and measuring technology based service innovation–A case analysis within theory and practice

While economies in the industrialised World have become increasingly knowledge driven and service based, much of the work on capturing and measuring business value is still constrained and steeped in the thinking of the manufacturing era. One area that is more susceptible to measurement is the field of technology based or enhanced services. This case analysis seeks to explore how a service operator, such as an international airport, can gauge value from investment into IT. We examine how the airport operator combines a variety of accounting techniques and other tools to capture value from their IT investments. We explore how the operator could improve their measurement of business value derived from their IT investment. One observation of practice is that value capturing tools and techniques are used in parallel rather than ‘in sync’. Drawing on the notion of user innovation, we argue operators should embrace a systemic approach in adapting and modifying measuring regimes to accommodate service based innovation.     

Narrative approaches to the transfer of organisational knowledge

Narratives, or stories, have been identified as one of the ways in which knowledge might be transferred, shared or exchanged in organisational settings. Beyond their identification, little consideration has been given to the ways in which narrative approaches can increase our understanding of the creation and dissemination of knowledge in organisations. This paper reflects upon some of the ways in which narrative approaches might contribute towards a better understanding of organisational knowledge management. It contributes to the debate on the nature and significance of the contextual features of organisational knowledge, particularly the role of tacit knowledge, and identifies some of the distinctions between formal and informal knowledge transfer mechanisms, which operate (with or without effective management) within organisations.     

Petmanship: Understanding Elderly Filipinos' Self-Perceived Health and Self-Esteem Captured from their Lived Experiences with Pet Companions

Understanding of the lived experiences of geriatric clients with pets, particularly in the Western cultures, has been the subject of many studies. However, little is known about how Asian cultures, particularly the Filipino elderly, view their experiences with their pets in regard to their self-esteem and self-perceived health. This phenomenological study purports to capture the essence of the lived experiences of a select group of Filipino elderly with their pet companions in relation to their self-perceived health and self-esteem. A total of five Filipino elderly recruited from the Luzon area were involved in this study and were chosen through the snowballing technique. A three-part instrument was made by the researchers to gather data, namely robotfoto, semistructured interviews, and doodling activities. Field texts were analyzed via structural analysis through the aid of dendogram. Results of both cool and warm analysis have eidetically and interestingly described how the new coinage of petmanship, as introduced in the study, surfaced the functional and the instrumental views of pets relative to the elderly's self-esteem, vis-a-vis their Self-Efficacy Booster and Social Proactivity Builder roles in regard to self-perceived health. The metaphorical images drawn by the Filipino elderly surfaced the Roles Syndrome of Petmanship and the Rules Syndrome of Petmanship.     

College Students’ Ability to Prove Mathematical Theorems with and without Training in Inference Patterns

Based on the assumptions of the Taxonomy(4) and its definitions of the cognitive processes, it was hypothesized that the first four taxonomic levels are related to intelligence alone, but that performance on the upper two levels would require creative as well as intellectual abilities. The Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Test, two creativity tests, and taxonomic tests were administered to 141 eleventh graders. Multivariate stepwise regression procedures were employed to determine the contributions of IQ and creativity to variation on the taxonomic tests. Results support the hypotheses. Implications are discussed in relation to Bloom’s model of mastery learning and the teaching for creativity.