International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, 2001
ABSTRACT This research study investigated eight specific work characteristics (outputs, inputs, w... more ABSTRACT This research study investigated eight specific work characteristics (outputs, inputs, work type, discretion level, work pursuit level, level of endeavour, decision type and maturity level), on three sub-populations of workers (production personnel, office/secretarial personnel, and university engineering professors). Thirty-one production personnel from two organisations located in the eastern part of the USA were used for the first group (B group). The second group (W group) comprised five office/secretarial personnel from a university engineering department. The third group (K group) was made up of six engineering professors from three separate universities located in the eastern and mid-western USA. The purpose of this research was to validate a specific work model (B/W/K). The design used stratified sampling. A modified chi-squared (contingency table) statistical methodology was used to analyse the data. The work definitions postulated by the B/W/K work model are supported by the research findings of this study. Specifically, four of the eight work characteristics (outputs, inputs, work type, and discretion level) of the work definitions are strongly supported by the results (p value Keywords : knowledge work; white-collar work; work measurement; work analysis; work characteristics.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is leading a research effort to develop ... more The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is leading a research effort to develop a Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) that will expand air transportation capabilities to hundreds of underutilized airports in the United States. Most of the research effort addresses the technological development of the small aircraft as well as the systems to manage airspace usage and surface activities at airports. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will also play a major role in the successful implementation of SATS, however, the administration is reluctant to embrace the unproven concept. The purpose of the research presented in this dissertation is to determine if the FAA can pursue a resource management strategy that will support the current radar-based Air Traffic Control (ATC) system as well as a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS)-based ATC system required by the SATS. The research centered around the use of the System Dynamics modeling methodology to determine t...
In the industrial engineering undergraduate curriculum, one course has followed a very traditiona... more In the industrial engineering undergraduate curriculum, one course has followed a very traditional educational format both from the instruction and the learning point of view. The course is engineering economics. This course is a fundamental course for industrial engineers as well as for other engineering disciplines (mechanical, electrical, civil, etc.). Although there have been several initiatives to rethink this course, by and large there has been little change in the pedagogical delivery of the course material for the last number of years. This paper investigates the current (prevalent) teaching approaches to this course. An informal survey was conducted with students at two institutions to obtain the customer's prospective with respect to the use of weekly quizzes to improve student's knowledge retention. The results of the survey are analyzed and discussed in the context of traditional (receptive accrual) and non-traditional (cognitive mediational) approaches. Also dis...
In this paper the use of simulation in addressing the specific needs of one oil company's tan... more In this paper the use of simulation in addressing the specific needs of one oil company's tanker scheduling problem is examined. The situation is actually more involved than simply tanker scheduling. The flow of oil from the wells to the storage facility must also be considered. This flow is constrained by governmental regulations and profit considerations. A network-discrete event-continuous simulation model, written in SLAM, was developed to address certain issues of interest to the oil company. These were issues such as a desirable mean time between tanker arrivals and the adequacy of the current storage facility. The latter was also of interest to the government involved, since there were usually tankers waiting to be loaded. The results show that tanker arrival schedule can be developed and that the current storage facility is adequate to meet this company's needs.
... As most ISE students are, I am grateful for the assistance provided by Lovedia Cole, Kathy Bu... more ... As most ISE students are, I am grateful for the assistance provided by Lovedia Cole, Kathy Buchanan, and Dot Cupp of the ISE Department. All have been extremely helpful in the behind-the-scenes work that must be done, but is not always rewarded. ...
To compete in today's global economy, organizations are under pressure to improve their produ... more To compete in today's global economy, organizations are under pressure to improve their product development processes. The engineering design process is an important component of the overall product development process. This research considers the relationship of both social and technical variables to the engineering design process. The theoretical foundation of this research is sociotechnical systems theory. This theory states that optimum performance is achieved by jointly considering the technical and the social subsystems. The application domain of the theory is called macroergonomics. A technical variable considered by this research was engineering design process methodology. Two methodologies were considered: sequential engineering and concurrent engineering. Another technical construct considered by this research was the use of computer-supported cooperative work technology (CSCW) or groupware. The social variable considered by this research was group size. Two sizes were...
For this paper, I wanted to compare mathematical techniques against group interaction in generati... more For this paper, I wanted to compare mathematical techniques against group interaction in generating consensus for a ranking decision. I convened a group to come to consensus on ranking items needed for survival on the moon. I chose this problem because NASA has an approved solution. I solicited the group's individual rankings before and after discussion. I used Kendall's coefficient of concordance to measure the level of consensus before and after discussion and compared the results against individual qualitative responses to a questionnaire designed to also measure consensus. The approved solution allowed me to see if group felt more or less in agreement as they moved closer or farther from the approved solution. As background for this experiment, I researched the existing knowledge on measuring consensus. I make a distinction between consensus and successful consensus, define them, and operationalize them for the purposes of this study. I define different levels of consens...
This research clarified existing inconsistencies in self-assessment literature, and added to the ... more This research clarified existing inconsistencies in self-assessment literature, and added to the body of knowledge for rating effectiveness of organizational assessments by defining relationships among rating effectiveness criteria (ratee, rater, rating scale, rating process) and measures (interrater reliability, halo error, leniency and severity, range restriction) based on extensive literature review. A research framework was developed from this review, and was employed in computing rating effectiveness measures at the individual (i.e., examiner or eight rating scale dimensions) and sector
World Wide Web (WWW) simulation is a new engineering tool with enormous potential to impact engin... more World Wide Web (WWW) simulation is a new engineering tool with enormous potential to impact engineering education. By combining the modeling capability of traditional simulation tools with the communication capability of the Internet, WWW-based simulation provides wide accessibility, controlled access, efficient maintenance and increased integration. This paper describes WWW-based simulation, reviews its development and educational applications, and summarizes the current state of the art in this rapidly evolving area.
International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, 2001
ABSTRACT This research study investigated eight specific work characteristics (outputs, inputs, w... more ABSTRACT This research study investigated eight specific work characteristics (outputs, inputs, work type, discretion level, work pursuit level, level of endeavour, decision type and maturity level), on three sub-populations of workers (production personnel, office/secretarial personnel, and university engineering professors). Thirty-one production personnel from two organisations located in the eastern part of the USA were used for the first group (B group). The second group (W group) comprised five office/secretarial personnel from a university engineering department. The third group (K group) was made up of six engineering professors from three separate universities located in the eastern and mid-western USA. The purpose of this research was to validate a specific work model (B/W/K). The design used stratified sampling. A modified chi-squared (contingency table) statistical methodology was used to analyse the data. The work definitions postulated by the B/W/K work model are supported by the research findings of this study. Specifically, four of the eight work characteristics (outputs, inputs, work type, and discretion level) of the work definitions are strongly supported by the results (p value Keywords : knowledge work; white-collar work; work measurement; work analysis; work characteristics.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is leading a research effort to develop ... more The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is leading a research effort to develop a Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) that will expand air transportation capabilities to hundreds of underutilized airports in the United States. Most of the research effort addresses the technological development of the small aircraft as well as the systems to manage airspace usage and surface activities at airports. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will also play a major role in the successful implementation of SATS, however, the administration is reluctant to embrace the unproven concept. The purpose of the research presented in this dissertation is to determine if the FAA can pursue a resource management strategy that will support the current radar-based Air Traffic Control (ATC) system as well as a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS)-based ATC system required by the SATS. The research centered around the use of the System Dynamics modeling methodology to determine t...
In the industrial engineering undergraduate curriculum, one course has followed a very traditiona... more In the industrial engineering undergraduate curriculum, one course has followed a very traditional educational format both from the instruction and the learning point of view. The course is engineering economics. This course is a fundamental course for industrial engineers as well as for other engineering disciplines (mechanical, electrical, civil, etc.). Although there have been several initiatives to rethink this course, by and large there has been little change in the pedagogical delivery of the course material for the last number of years. This paper investigates the current (prevalent) teaching approaches to this course. An informal survey was conducted with students at two institutions to obtain the customer's prospective with respect to the use of weekly quizzes to improve student's knowledge retention. The results of the survey are analyzed and discussed in the context of traditional (receptive accrual) and non-traditional (cognitive mediational) approaches. Also dis...
In this paper the use of simulation in addressing the specific needs of one oil company's tan... more In this paper the use of simulation in addressing the specific needs of one oil company's tanker scheduling problem is examined. The situation is actually more involved than simply tanker scheduling. The flow of oil from the wells to the storage facility must also be considered. This flow is constrained by governmental regulations and profit considerations. A network-discrete event-continuous simulation model, written in SLAM, was developed to address certain issues of interest to the oil company. These were issues such as a desirable mean time between tanker arrivals and the adequacy of the current storage facility. The latter was also of interest to the government involved, since there were usually tankers waiting to be loaded. The results show that tanker arrival schedule can be developed and that the current storage facility is adequate to meet this company's needs.
... As most ISE students are, I am grateful for the assistance provided by Lovedia Cole, Kathy Bu... more ... As most ISE students are, I am grateful for the assistance provided by Lovedia Cole, Kathy Buchanan, and Dot Cupp of the ISE Department. All have been extremely helpful in the behind-the-scenes work that must be done, but is not always rewarded. ...
To compete in today's global economy, organizations are under pressure to improve their produ... more To compete in today's global economy, organizations are under pressure to improve their product development processes. The engineering design process is an important component of the overall product development process. This research considers the relationship of both social and technical variables to the engineering design process. The theoretical foundation of this research is sociotechnical systems theory. This theory states that optimum performance is achieved by jointly considering the technical and the social subsystems. The application domain of the theory is called macroergonomics. A technical variable considered by this research was engineering design process methodology. Two methodologies were considered: sequential engineering and concurrent engineering. Another technical construct considered by this research was the use of computer-supported cooperative work technology (CSCW) or groupware. The social variable considered by this research was group size. Two sizes were...
For this paper, I wanted to compare mathematical techniques against group interaction in generati... more For this paper, I wanted to compare mathematical techniques against group interaction in generating consensus for a ranking decision. I convened a group to come to consensus on ranking items needed for survival on the moon. I chose this problem because NASA has an approved solution. I solicited the group's individual rankings before and after discussion. I used Kendall's coefficient of concordance to measure the level of consensus before and after discussion and compared the results against individual qualitative responses to a questionnaire designed to also measure consensus. The approved solution allowed me to see if group felt more or less in agreement as they moved closer or farther from the approved solution. As background for this experiment, I researched the existing knowledge on measuring consensus. I make a distinction between consensus and successful consensus, define them, and operationalize them for the purposes of this study. I define different levels of consens...
This research clarified existing inconsistencies in self-assessment literature, and added to the ... more This research clarified existing inconsistencies in self-assessment literature, and added to the body of knowledge for rating effectiveness of organizational assessments by defining relationships among rating effectiveness criteria (ratee, rater, rating scale, rating process) and measures (interrater reliability, halo error, leniency and severity, range restriction) based on extensive literature review. A research framework was developed from this review, and was employed in computing rating effectiveness measures at the individual (i.e., examiner or eight rating scale dimensions) and sector
World Wide Web (WWW) simulation is a new engineering tool with enormous potential to impact engin... more World Wide Web (WWW) simulation is a new engineering tool with enormous potential to impact engineering education. By combining the modeling capability of traditional simulation tools with the communication capability of the Internet, WWW-based simulation provides wide accessibility, controlled access, efficient maintenance and increased integration. This paper describes WWW-based simulation, reviews its development and educational applications, and summarizes the current state of the art in this rapidly evolving area.
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