BUSINESS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
" Next Patient!"
The organisation of the Gelre Hospital in Zutphen is being turned on its head. A new facility is being built, one that envisages previously separate departments working closely together within one new building. Patients will no longer have to sit couped up interminably in small, unwelcoming waiting rooms. In the new concept, a patient will spend a maximum time of ten minutes waiting and walking to separate clinics from one central lounge. The lounge will feature stores and wifi internet access, among other diversions. To achieve the best possible streamlining, Ph.D. student Diederik Rothengatter (IS&CM) built a virtual world based on the clinics' current calendars and the new building plans. Organisation specialist Christiaan Katsma: "Each time Diederik's model progressed further, we called the hospital staff to look at the new design and to think about the new situation. After all, this isn't just a fancy technical feat, it is also a social, participatory design process. People that don't usually communicate with each other will have to work together. It's a paradigm shift, but it will certainly be achieved before the Gelre Hospital moves to the premises in June 2010."
Assistant Professor and Assistant in Education
Project Gelre-ziekenhuis (04:11 minutes, double-click to enlarge video)
A Planning Protocol for Inland Shipping
Albert Douma (OMPL) obtained his doctorate with a dissertation on multi-agent planning for container inland ships in Rotterdam. In theory, this would result in better logistical coordination of terminals and inland shipping than central control can offer. Commercial parties also responded positively to the new system: they could remain independent, and synchronisation could become more flexible. Implementation is the next order of business. Douma began translating the theoretical solution into practice, a new phase in which he must make use of new and different set of competencies. "The problem is urgent and our solution is appealing, but the reality is that we have to convince more than thirty competing organisations. You have to take the wishes and the market shares of the various parties into consideration. Moreover, you want people to be persuaded that research really can be applied in practice. Our challenge is to make that a reality."
www.mb.utwente.nl/omp/staff/
Douma/planninaparttogether_
amdouma.pdf
Fresh Thinking about Consultancy
Management consulting is a 300 million dollar business, most of which is spent on organisational change. And yet 70% of all these change initiatives never reach their goal. Jeff Hicks (IS&CM) has been a consultant for a long time and he thinks it's high time for a fundamentally new approach. In his dissertation, he leaves behind centuries-old notions. Working from a historical perspective, the American develops a new direction in thinking, in which he no longer focuses on knowledge transfer, but on knowledge creation. In such a situation, change in the organisation is continual, while minimal predictability becomes the rule and not the exception. Moreover, in Hicks' vision the relationship between the client and the consultant is less transactional and more focused on collaboration. If you look at formal project planning, that sounds perhaps like a radical break with the past. But if you look at what is occurring in everyday practice, then Hick's approach looks very much like what a few effective clients and consultants have been doing for a long time. Hicks was granted his doctorate in February, 2010.
v.l.n.r. Joke Nijhuis, Celeste Wilderom en Young-Hee (Sylvia)
The Emotionally-Intelligent Boss Achieves More
In 2009 Young-Hee (Sylvia) Hur attracted worldwide attention with her thesis about the relationship between emotional intelligence (EQ) and effective leadership. Together with her thesis supervisor Celeste Wilderom she surprised sceptics with the importance of a high emotional intelligence quotient. Research from the field, in Hur's home country, linked the EQ of managers to their department's achievements. Managers with a high EQ were found to be the most effective. Their staff members contributed to a good team atmosphere and were slower to look for a new position. In comparison with other, less-sensitive managers, the teams of high EQ managers believed that they were learning on the job, were open to change, and were more client-friendly. The team results were significantly higher. Hur, who has returned to Seoul to take up a position as lecturer and researcher, is calling for more emotionally developed and highly-ethical managers. According to Hur and Wilderom this development "will bring with it enormous progress for managers in the 21st century."