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A plasma cladding experiment was carried out to investigate the characteristics(surface hardness, microstructure, friction, wear properties from different substrates to the cladding layer and the bond strength) of plasma cladding Fe-Cr-Nb-Si-Mo alloy cladding layers on different substrates. In order to improve the abrasion resistance of the scraper middle trough, the plasma cladding technique was used to clad the alloy ceramic powder Ig7 on the surface of the middle trough NM450, WH60A, Hardox450, and Weartuf450 to create Fe/Cr/Nb/Mo/V cladding layer. Based on the experiment results, the microstructure, friction and wear properties of the four cladding layers were analyzed, and the bond strength between the cladding layer and the substrate was also tested. The experimental results show that the main phases of the four cladding layers are martensite and all kinds of metal carbides ((Nb, Mo)C, VC, and Cr7C3). WH60A surface cladding layer has shown good friction and wear properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 40 years, organizational scholars have repeatedly called for more research to reconcile formalist and social network approaches to the intra-organizational structure. The former has primarily been concerned with the reporting relationship which manifests as the chain of command while research on the informal social structure relegates the reporting relationship to a wide and varied range of instrumental and affective relationships such as advice-seeking, knowledge-sharing, trust, and friendship which span the boundaries that the chain of command defines. In this study, we employ the chain of command distance—the length along the chain of command of a path connecting a pair of organizational actors—as the basis for formulating and testing hypotheses about how the formal organization and the informal social structure influence one another. First, we argue that whereas the formal structure affords only one, often very lengthy, path between any pair of actors, the combination of formal and informal structures results in a greater number of significantly shorter paths between actors. Next, we consider one effect of the formal organization on the informal social structure. In particular, we argue that there is an inverse relationship between the chain of command distance and the likelihood of a social or informal connection forming between a pair of actors. We test our hypotheses with demographic data collected from a public sector provider of health, education, and welfare services in rural Norway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is difficult to make large, complex organizations like MNCs ambidextrous—to make them efficient so that they succeed in the short run and in sync with their changing environments so that they succeed and survive in the long run. The two types of learning activity that support ambidexterity, exploitation and exploration, are fundamentally different (March 1991). The well-known structural approach to creating organizational ambidexterity employs separate subunits for exploitation and exploration (O'Reilly and Tushman 2011). We argue that this approach cannot take full advantage of the high levels of product, geographic, and functional diversity that exist in large, complex firms to create ambidexterity at a more macro level. Firms facing this kind of complexity often address it by using a matrix structure. For such firms, we argue that a more flexible form of matrix structure can facilitate the creation of a new form of ambidexterity at the macro level of such firms. As developed in Egelhoff and Wolf (Egelhoff and Wolf 2017), a flexible matrix structure is one which can vary its mode of decision making between balanced decision making, where decisions are jointly made by both dimensions of a matrix, and rule-based decision making, where it is pre-specified which dimension of a matrix will unilaterally make certain types of decision. We argue that rule-based decision making tends to facilitate exploitation and the refinement of existing knowledge while balanced decision making tends to facilitate exploration and the development of new knowledge. By specifying one mode of decision making or the other, firm-level management can deliberately steer important strategic decisions (e.g., new product technology development) into either exploitation or exploration and strategy renewal, creating a new form of ambidexterity at the macro level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since taking off as an industry in Sweden in the 1980s, contract archaeology has changed not only the role of field archaeologists but also that of museums and the formation of collections. This paper discusses some of the effects of the commercialization of archaeological services through a case study of past and present collection practices. Data records are compared from three different archaeological investigations at the site Nya Lödöse (1473–1621) in Gothenburg. Each excavation represents a particular era in archaeological practice. The data are used to compare and analyse collecting practices within contemporary contract archaeology. Separately, a survey among contract archaeology units examines the implementation of legislative guidelines and day-to-day practices and suggests several causes for anomalies in the selection and discarding of finds in the case study. Combined, the findings of the case study and the survey results suggest that contract archaeology leaves a specific imprint on collections in archaeological museums, impacting their compilation and therefore influencing future research as well as the experience of the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research paper analyzes the speech act of Correction performed by the Marathi speakers both in English and Marathi languages as a response to three situations each in English and Marathi demanding speech act of correction in Discourse Completion Tests. For the purpose, the responses of50 post-graduate students of Shivaji University to Discourse Completion Tests in English and Marathi are collected and analyzed by preparing a model of speech act of Correction. Thefocus of study is to explore the manner and nature of speech act, the semantic strategies in 'which the head act is realized, the organization structure of the response and the preferred supportive moves. The analysis and the resultant conclusions are presented in terms of comparison between English and Marathi Correction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is in the cusp of becoming a major global innovation hub, and Indian startups have a huge role to play in driving the innovation engine. However, it is necessary that Indian entrepreneurs shun some of the traditional paradigms and adopt paradigms which are more congruent with strategies that encourage innovations. This study attempts to examine the relationship between Macro Structural elements of the Organization Design and Innovation Performance of Start-ups. The frame of reference for this study is 79 Start-Ups which have been in business for less than ten years. The average employee count of all the Start-Ups included in the sample is 57. Ordinal Regression tool has been used to establish the relationship between Organization Design elements and Innovation Performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic research libraries can employ several approaches to advance the institutional mission. First, libraries can shift from goals focused on collections and traditional library services and instead align with their campus academic plan and an emphasis on supporting the institution's strategic initiatives. A second approach is for libraries to modify their organizational structures from being function-based on the tasks that traditional libraries performed (e.g., public services, technical services, collection development) and move instead toward organizational units that directly support their university's missions (e.g., undergraduate education; graduate and professional education; research, scholarship, and creative activity; and public engagement). The key is to have library staff engaged in work that contributes to vital institutional outcomes such as student success and faculty research productivity. Academic research libraries should also continue to work towards an assessment program that demonstrates the value of the academic research library in providing quality services that advance the institutional mission. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Colleges and universities' missions are typically comprised of educating students, training professionals, engaging in scholarship and research, promoting creative activity, improving healthcare, and providing public service. Academic libraries exist to support these core functions, yet most academic libraries are organized based on library functions rather than the primary missions of their college or university. This article describes one academic library's attempt to align library strategy and structure with its university's academic plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic sourcing, defined as a firm's key business process to identify, evaluate, configure, and negotiate purchases in important spend categories while managing long-term supplier relationships, is playing a significant role in sourcing strategies. The adoption of e-sourcing, defined as the use of business software (for example, using application service providers to conduct online procurement auctions) to automate or augment the aforementioned key business process, has been growing rapidly in recent years. One often-cited benefit of e-sourcing is the predicted savings, which is appealing, given the increasing pressure on cost competitiveness faced by firms. Using queuing techniques, this paper develops an economic model that captures fundamental trade-offs in a firm's e-sourcing business process as characterized by communication complexity, frequency of use, and cost of delay. This allows comparisons of two widely adopted structures for e-sourcing; the centralized structure versus the decentralized structure. Conditions under which the centralized structure is favored over the decentralized structure and vice versa are identified and illustrated with numerical examples and case evidence. These findings are robust in other settings. The paper concludes with a discussion of managerial implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the link between a firm's organization of research --specifically, its choice to operate a centralized or decentralized R&D structure --and the type of innovation it produces. We propose that by reducing the internal transaction costs associated with R&D coordination across units, centralized R&D will generate innovations that have a larger and broader impact on subsequent technological evolution than will decentralized research. We also propose that, by facilitating more distant ('capabilities-broadening') search, centralized R&D will generate innovations that draw on a wider range of technologies. Our empirical results provide support for our predictions concerning impact, and mixed results for our predictions concerning breadth of search. We also find that control over research budgets complements direct authority relations in contributing to innovative impact. We propose several extensions of this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a sample of 95 German firms, the study finds general support for the traditional fits of international strategy-structure theory. Employing an information-processing perspective, the study conceptually and empirically extends existing theory (1) to address strategy-structure fit for various types of matrix structure, and (2) by adding two new elements of international strategy to the existing international strategy-structure model: the level of international transfers and level of foreign R&D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines the influence of internal control system on small scale enterprises sustainable development. The specific objective is to determine the influence of organizational structure and recruitment of personnel in small scale enterprises on their net profit margin. The study adopted survey design. Questionnaires were employed for gathering primary data and secondary data was obtained from the books of account. The researcher employed the purposive sampling technique in selecting participants for the study. Linear regression technique was employed as the basic statistical tool for data analyses in this study, with the aid of SPSS 20.0 software. We discovered significant relationship between organizational structures and recruitment of personnel in small scale enterprises and net profit margin. We recommend that there should be no fusion of personality between the owner of the business and the business. This will encourage the business owner to have good organization structure. Once there is separation of duties among the personnel, it will induce efficient and effective internal control in the organization.

Copyright of Systems Engineering & Electronics is the property of Journal of Systems Engineering & Electronics Editorial Department and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Selcuk University Social Sciences Institute Journal is the property of Selcuk University Social Sciences Institute Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract We complement the rich conceptual work on organizational corruption by quantitatively modeling the spread of corruption within organizations. We systematically vary four organizational culture-related parameters, i.e., organization structure, location of bad apples , employees' propensity to become corrupted ("corruption probability"), and number of whistle-blowers. Our simulation studies find that in organizations with flatter structures, corruption permeates the organization at a lower threshold value of corruption probability compared to those with taller structures. However, the final proportion of corrupted individuals is higher in the latter as compared to the former. Also, we find that for a 1,000-strong organization, 5% of the workforce is a critical threshold in terms of the number of whistle-blowers needed to constrain the spread of corruption, and if this number is around 25%, the corruption contagion is negligible. Implications of our results are discussed. Highlights • Bridges two research streams, organizational corruption and social contagion. • New quantitative time-evolved cross-complex organizational networks corruption model. • Assesses impact of organization structure, bad apple locations, on corruption spread. • Introduces, and assesses impact of, whistle-blowers on corruption spreading. • Flatter structures are more easily corruptible but spread is lower than taller ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper is a modest attempt to assess the way the speech act of Request is performed in English and Marathi. For the purpose, data are collected from 50 post-graduate students using DCT. Three situations each in English and Marathi are used and the respondents are asked to respond to the situations. The analysis of the data shows that there an certain differences in the realization pattern of the speech act in English and Marathi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: There is global interest in implementing national information systems to support healthcare, and the National Health Service in England (NHS) has a troubled 25-year history in this sphere. Our objective was to chronicle structural reorganizations within the NHS from 1973 to 2017, alongside concurrent national information technology (IT) strategies, as the basis for developing a conceptual model to aid understanding of the organizational factors involved.Materials and Methods: We undertook an exploratory, retrospective longitudinal case study by reviewing strategic plans, legislation, and health policy documents, and constructed schemata for evolving structure and strategy. Literature on multi-organizational forms, complexity, national-level health IT implementations, and mega-projects was reviewed to identify factors that mapped to the schemata. Guided by strong structuration theory, these factors were superimposed on a simplified structural schema to create the conceptual model.Results: Against a background of frequent NHS reorganizations, there has been a logical and emergent NHS IT strategy focusing progressively on technical and data standards, connectivity, applications, and consolidation. The NHS has a complex and hierarchical multi-organization form in which restructuring may impact a range of intra- and inter-organizational factors.Discussion: NHS-wide IT programs have generally failed to meet expectations, though evaluations have usually overlooked longer-term progress. Realizing a long-term health IT strategy may be impeded by volatility of the implementation environment as organizational structures and relationships change. Key factors influencing the strategy-structure dyad can be superimposed on the tiered NHS structure to facilitate analysis of their impact.Conclusion: Alignment between incremental health IT strategy and dynamic structure is an under-researched area. Lessons from organizational studies and the management of mega-projects may help in understanding some of the ongoing challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to examine the effect of organization structure on organization strategy. Survey research design was employed through the administration of structured questionnaire to staff of Nestle Nigeria PLC, Unilever Nigeria PLC and PZ (Cussons) PLC. The findings revealed that, organization structure positively and significantly affects strategy implementation (F stat 107.52* 0.000) and that organization structure account for 53% (Adjusted R2= 0.5312) variat ion in organization strategy. It can therefore be concluded that, organization structure plays a significant role in strategy formulation and implementation in Nigeria multinational enterprises. It could be seen that, global matrix structure and product division structure are the most critical elements of organization structure driving strategy implementation in a multinational firm. It is therefore recommended that, multinational firms in Nigeria should employ matrix structure towards the enhancement of their organization strategy. This is because matrix structure has the highest effect on organization strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Polish Journal of Management Studies is the property of Czestochowa University of Technology, Faculty of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Iş, Güç: The Journal of Industrial Relations & Human Resources is the property of Is, Guc: The Journal of Industrial Relations & Human Resources and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Aims: This paper examines the role of organizational structure within government(s) in attempts to implement intersectoral action for health in Danish municipalities. We discuss the implications of structural reorganization and the governance structures that are established in order to ensure coordination and integration between policy sectors. Methods: The paper is based on 49 interviews with civil servants from health and non-health sectors of 10 municipalities. Based on participants’ experiences, cases have been described and analyzed in an iterative process consulting the literature on Health in All Policies and joined-up government. Results: Continuous and frequent processes of reorganizing were widespread in the municipalities. However, they appeared to have little effect on policy change. The two most common governance structures established to transcend organizational boundaries were the central unit and the intersectoral committee. According to the experiences of participants, paradoxically both of these organizational solutions tend to reproduce the organizational problems they are intended to overcome. Even if structural reorganization may succeed in dissolving some sector boundaries, it will inevitably create new ones. Conclusions: It is time to dismiss the idea that intersectoral action for health can be achieved by means of a structural fix. Rather than rearranging organizational boundaries it may be more useful to seek to manage the silos which exist in any organization, e.g. by promoting awareness of their implications for public health action and by enhancing the boundary spanning skills of public health officers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents comparative statics of organizational modes of natural monopoly in public utilities with a focus on co-ownership and co-governance. Private monopoly lowers output and increases the price to maximize profit; public monopoly incurs higher costs due to the lack of know-how; and a regulated monopoly results in regulation costs to overcome informational asymmetries. A public–private partnership arises as an efficient organization mode when it enables the internalization of private know-how and saves regulation costs due to correspondingly sufficient private and public residual control rights. Public–private partnerships support higher prices than marginal costs due to rent sharing, with its upper price frontier decreasing in private residual control rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Wool Textile Journal is the property of National Wool Textile Science & Technology Information Center and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Proceedings of the Faculty of Economics & Business in Zagreb / Zbornik Ekonomskog Fakulteta u Zagrebu is the property of Ekonomski Fakultet u Zagrebu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)