No matter how many resources we consume we never seem to have enough. The Economics of Abundance is a balanced book in which Wolfgang Hoeschele challenges why this is so. He claims that our current capitalist economy can exist only on the basis of manufactured scarcity created by 'scarcity-generating institutions', and these institutions manipulate both demand and supply of commodities. Therefore demand consistently exceeds supply, and profits and economic growth can continue - at the cost of individual freedom, social equity, and ecological sustainability. The fact that continual increases in demand are so vital to our economy leads to an impasse: many people see no alternative to the generation of ever more demand, but at the same time recognize that it is clearly unsustainable ecologically and socially. So, can demand only be reduced by curtailing freedom and is this acceptable? This book argues that, by analyzing how scarcity-generating institutions work and then reforming or dismantling them, we can enhance individual freedom and support entrepreneurial initiative, and at the same time make progress toward social justice and environmental sustainability by reducing demands on vital resources. This vision would enable activists in many fields (social justice, civil liberties, and environmental protection), as well as many entrepreneurs and other members of civil society to work together much more effectively, make it more difficult to portray all these groups as contradictory special interests, and thereby help generate momentum for positive change. Meanwhile, for academics in many fields of study, the concept of the creation of scarcity or abundance may be a highly useful analytical tool.

Workspaces and their design have a vast impact on the comfort and productivity of employees. Therefore, the structure of a workspace can be used to determine the socio-economic characteristics and elements that will appear in the employees that utilize them. Co-Manufacturing and New Economic Paradigms provides innovative insights into shared workspaces as independent socio-economic environments. The content within this publication explores the ideas of knowledge sharing, work culture, and economic planning. It is a vital reference source for entrepreneurs, business professionals, and researchers, and it covers topics centered on the importance of workspace design and organization.

As the field of Supply Chain Management has matured, maintaining the precise flow of goods to maintain schedules (hence, minimizing inventories) on a just-in-time basis still remains as a major challenge. This problem or challenge has resulted in a fair amount of quantitative research in the area, producing an array of models and algorithms to help ensure the precise flow of components and final products into inventories to meet just-in-time requirements.

Just-in-Time Scheduling: Models and Algorithms for Real Time Operating Systems is the first expository treatment surveying the theoretical work on computer systems models and algorithms utilized in just-in-time scheduling. With the impact of globalization and supply chains on manufacturing, there are immense amounts of material flowing through supply chains at any given time worldwide. Therefore the scheduling of all the stages of material arriving at different geographical points at precise times is a highly significant problem. Moreover, the theoretical work in this area has larger ramifications for operational scheduling in many application areas. The scheduling models and algorithms presented and illustrated in the book will be done so in the context of extensive use of computer systems in a "real time context." The "just-in-time" and "real-time" theoretical work in the book will be of value and interest to many Engineers, Computer Scientists and Operations Research/Management Science researchers, students and practitioners. The book will survey and synthesize all the research in this topical area.

A seminal collection of research methodology themes, this two-volume work provides a set of key scholarly developments related to robustness, allowing scholars to advance their knowledge of research methods used outside of their own immediate fields. With a focus on emerging methodologies within management, key areas of importance are dissected with chapters covering statistical modelling, new measurements, digital research, biometrics and neuroscience, the philosophy of research, computer modelling approaches and new mathematical theories, among others. A genuinely pioneering contribution to the advancement of research methods in business studies, Innovative Research Methodologies in Management presents an analytical and engaging discussion on each topic. By introducing new research agendas it aims to pave the way for increased application of innovative techniques, allowing the exploration of future research perspectives. Volume II explores a range of research methodologies including the Spatial Delphi and Spatial Shang, Virtual Reality, the Futures Polygon and Neuroscience research.

This proceedings volume highlights the state-of-the-art knowledge related to optimization, decisions science and problem solving methods, as well as their application in industrial and territorial systems. It includes contributions tackling these themes using models and methods based on continuous and discrete optimization, network optimization, simulation and system dynamics, heuristics, metaheuristics, artificial intelligence, analytics, and also multiple-criteria decision making. The number and the increasing size of the problems arising in real life require mathematical models and solution methods adequate to their complexity. There has also been increasing research interest in Big Data and related challenges. These challenges can be recognized in many fields and systems which have a significant impact on our way of living: design, management and control of industrial production of goods and services; transportation planning and traffic management in urban and regional areas; energy production and exploitation; natural resources and environment protection; homeland security and critical infrastructure protection; development of advanced information and communication technologies. The chapters in this book examine how to deal with new and emerging practical problems arising in these different fields through the presented methodologies and their applications. The chapter topics are applicable for researchers and practitioners working in these areas, but also for the operations research community. The contributions were presented during the international conference "Optimization and Decision Science" (ODS2017), held at Hilton Sorrento Palace Conference Center, Sorrento, Italy, September 4 - 7, 2017. ODS 2017, was organized by AIRO, Italian Operations Research Society, in cooperation with DIETI (Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology) of University "Federico II" of Naples.

In all periods of time, there is a perceived shortage of qualified, credible, and robust leadership skills. At the same time, what is regarded as skilled leadership is contingent on economic, political, institutional, and cultural conditions specific for a period of time or a local setting. Leadership in the era of managerial capitalism was focused on planning and administration, and was seated in large-scale, divisionalized corporations. In the 1970s, this economic model started to wane and leadership was advanced as the solution to a series of economic and social concerns, now being a matter of meaning-making in the face of uncertainty and ambiguity. With the expansion of the finance industry and the deregulation of finance markets in the 1990s and in the new millennium, yet another leadership model increasingly prioritized economic value creation. In parallel to the economic, political and institutional changes, the idea of leadership has been strongly informed by new ideas about individualism and masculinity, adding to the understanding of leadership as what is anchored in widespread social beliefs about for example healthy life styles, the virtues of physical exercise, and novel gender relations. Aimed at scholars, researchers, students and policy makers in the fields of Leadership, Management History and Organizational Theory; Leadership Varieties examines predominant ideas about the qualities and virtues of leadership in a historical and cultural perspective.

The field of project management has developed over the past 40 years; however, the recent increase in computer power has greatly accelerated its theoretical and computational developments. Advanced Models for Project Management is an expository treatment of the recent developments in project modeling. These advances and their treatment in the book are as follows: Chapters 2 and 3 broaden the concept of precedence and the description of activities to produce a wide range of realistic representation of projects. Chapters 4 and 5 explore the stochastic study of project features through several analytical and numerical models - using simulation and risk analysis - which provide experimental and forecasting analyses. Chapter 6 examines the allocation of resources in complex situations and restrictions, and also studies the financial aspects of projects and optimization of financial elements. Chapter 7 assesses and evaluates projects within the framework of multi-criteria decision theory. Chapter 8 concludes with an analysis of new models based on synthetic indicators, helping the operations manager select the most convenient solutions. Hence, the book provides a number of original advances, including: an assessment of the complexity and hardness of a project network; a description of the network's morphology; a new approach to simulate project networks; development of models based on continuous variables to optimize project schedules; and the development of a three-dimension model (MACMODEL) to assess and to evaluate projects and a new synthetic indicator to support the process of scheduling. Finally, several software products are presented that help the project manager to use new tools suchas RISKNET and MACMODEL.

This addition to the ISOR series addresses the analytics of the operations of electric energy systems with increasing penetration of stochastic renewable production facilities, such as wind- and solar-based generation units. As stochastic renewable production units become ubiquitous throughout electric energy systems, an increasing level of flexible backup provided by non-stochastic units and other system agents is needed if supply security and quality are to be maintained. Within the context above, this book provides up-to-date analytical tools to address challenging operational problems such as: * The modeling and forecasting of stochastic renewable power production. * The characterization of the impact of renewable production on market outcomes. * The clearing of electricity markets with high penetration of stochastic renewable units. * The development of mechanisms to counteract the variability and unpredictability of stochastic renewable units so that supply security is not at risk. * The trading of the electric energy produced by stochastic renewable producers. * The association of a number of electricity production facilities, stochastic and others, to increase their competitive edge in the electricity market. * The development of procedures to enable demand response and to facilitate the integration of stochastic renewable units. This book is written in a modular and tutorial manner and includes many illustrative examples to facilitate its comprehension. It is intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of electric energy systems, applied mathematics and economics. Practitioners in the electric energy sector will benefit as well from the concepts and techniques explained in this book.

The focus of this book is on establishing theories and methods of both decision and game analysis in management using intuitionistic fuzzy sets. It proposes a series of innovative theories, models and methods such as the representation theorem and extension principle of intuitionistic fuzzy sets, ranking methods of intuitionistic fuzzy numbers, non-linear and linear programming methods for intuitionistic fuzzy multi-attribute decision making and (interval-valued) intuitionistic fuzzy matrix games. These theories and methods form the theory system of intuitionistic fuzzy decision making and games, which is not only remarkably different from those of the traditional, Bayes and/or fuzzy decision theory but can also provide an effective and efficient tool for solving complex management problems. Since there is a certain degree of inherent hesitancy in real-life management, which cannot always be described by the traditional mathematical methods and/or fuzzy set theory, this book offers an effective approach to using the intuitionistic fuzzy set expressed with membership and non-membership functions. This book is addressed to all those involved in theoretical research and practical applications from a variety of fields/disciplines: decision science, game theory, management science, fuzzy sets, operational research, applied mathematics, systems engineering, industrial engineering, economics, etc.

This book provides the readers with a thorough and systematic introduction to hesitant fuzzy theory. It presents the most recent research results and advanced methods in the field. These includes: hesitant fuzzy aggregation techniques, hesitant fuzzy preference relations, hesitant fuzzy measures, hesitant fuzzy clustering algorithms and hesitant fuzzy multi-attribute decision making methods. Since its introduction by Torra and Narukawa in 2009, hesitant fuzzy sets have become more and more popular and have been used for a wide range of applications, from decision-making problems to cluster analysis, from medical diagnosis to personnel appraisal and information retrieval. This book offers a comprehensive report on the state-of-the-art in hesitant fuzzy sets theory and applications, aiming at becoming a reference guide for both researchers and practitioners in the area of fuzzy mathematics and other applied research fields (e.g. operations research, information science, management science and engineering) characterized by uncertain ("hesitant") information. Because of its clarity and self contained explanations, the book can also be adopted as a textbook from graduate and advanced undergraduate students.

First published in 1993. This book is intended for managers and occupational psychologists involved in the selection and assessment of the workforce. It details the history and development of the use of biographical data for both recruitment and promotion of employees. Grounded in relevant research literature, it offers a comprehensive analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of biodata in different contexts. It also includes examples of applications and recommendations for use, as well as examples of questionnaires. Written by experts, it represents a wide-ranging review of the contemporary research in the field. This work will be of interest to students of business and psychology.

First published in 1971, this collection of fourteen contemporaneous European research studies on managerial backgrounds and on the patterns, roles, and evolution of managerial careers examine managerial motivations in a broader context than the traditional analysis of psychological qualities. Most of the studies suggest or demonstrate the usefulness of a typology of industrial leaders - whether constructed from individual characteristics, the characteristics of the firm or the characteristics of the economy as a whole - that avoids isolating industrial executives from outside factors. This book will be of interest to students of business, sociology and industrial history.

This edited collection addresses the question of which capabilities and competencies enable Behavioral Operational Research to provide sustained improvement to decision processes. The aim is to show how a focus on capability and competency will not only meet short-term requirements for problem solving and decision support, but also build a solid foundation for the future. The contributors present recent advances in Behavioral OR, with a focus on the ways in which users of models deal with incomplete and imprecise information, subjective boundaries and uncertainty. These chapters are structured around three key dimensions of BOR: capabilities, cognition and aspects of practice.

Data Mining in Agriculture represents a comprehensive effort to provide graduate students and researchers with an analytical text on data mining techniques applied to agriculture and environmental related fields. This book presents both theoretical and practical insights with a focus on presenting the context of each data mining technique rather intuitively with ample concrete examples represented graphically and with algorithms written in Matlab(r). Examples and exercises with solutions are provided at the end of each chapter to facilitate the comprehension of the material. For each data mining technique described in the book variants and improvements of the basic algorithm are also given.

Making decisions is a critical part of every executive's job. However we know so little about the often subliminal processes that shape the decisions we make. The Secret Life of Decisions exposes the unchallenged myths and distortions that impact our reasoning ability, raising our awareness of the many traps we can fall into. Meena Thuraisingham and her collaborator, Wolfgang Lehmacher, have drawn from decades of work with leaders showing that even the most talented leaders and teams can end up making sub-optimal decisions. This is rarely because they had poor critical thinking faculties but rather because they did not pay enough attention to the often invisible traps hardwired into our thinking processes, letting through only information that conforms with our current beliefs, mental models and expectations. This leaves many leaders and businesses exposed. Rather than being the rational output of our reasoning abilities, the authors show decision making to be a highly imprecise process. As decision makers we come to the table armed with our own perspectives, preferences, filters, heuristics and biases, influenced by a broad range of social influences many operating subliminally. The Secret Life of Decisions is an essential read for developing and seasoned executives who have to work through increasingly complex and high stakes decisions. It treats choosing wisely and the thinking involved as a skill, which as with many other skills, can be improved with the guided practice and supporting tools provided here. The journey however starts with awareness that comes from outing the 'secret forces that can sabotage the quality of our decisions.

This book is a further development of the theory of parametric control. It includes: numerical methods of testing (verification) of software implementation of mathematical models by assessing the stability of mappings defined by the model; sufficient conditions for the existence of the solutions of some types of problems of dynamic optimization; the existence of continuous dependence of optimal values of criteria on exogenous functions and parameters; and the existence of points of bifurcation of extremals of such problems. It demonstrates that this theory offers a constructive methodology for middle-term forecasting, macroeconomic analysis and estimation of optimal values of economic characteristics on the basis of advanced global mathematical models, namely Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Model, Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) Model, and Hybrid Econometric model. In addition, it includes conditions for the applicability of the computational experiments' results, into practice.

Do you solve problems in the style of a coyote, competitor or eagle? Recognising the way you approach and deal with problems at work will enable you to identify the most suitable technique to use on a daily basis. Victor Newman's practical book strikes at the heart of fundamental challenges faced by all managers. It looks beyond the conventional techniques of problem-solving to the underlying process, identifies eight stages and explains how to recognise which technique is appropriate to which stage. On this basis managers can generate solutions at both the personal and the organisational level. A unique feature of the book is a Problem Solving Styles Profile that enables each reader to apply the material in the text to improve their own problem-solving capability.

From the perspective of delivering successful projects, the value of a skilled project sponsor and project manager outweighs many other factors. Projects need leaders who can give them vision, identity, keep the stakeholders and the project team on board and make the difficult decisions that will enable the project to continue (or, if necessary, be terminated). These are human skills that don't necessarily feature large in the project management bodies of knowledge. Ralf Muller and Rodney Turner's Project-Oriented Leadership explains the key leadership models of managerial, intellectual and emotional leadership and shows how they can be applied within projects to lead processes, functions and people, and ensure an ethical and inclusive approach within projects and programs.

How much risk should we take? A Short Guide to Risk Appetite sets out to help all those who need to decide how much risk can be taken in a particular risky and important situation. David Hillson and Ruth Murray-Webster introduce the RARA Model to explain the complementary and central roles of Risk Appetite and Risk Attitude, and along the way they show how other risk-related concepts fit in. Risk thresholds are the external expression of inherent risk appetite, and the challenge is how to set the right thresholds. By progressively deconstructing the RARA Model, the authors show that the essential control step is our ability to choose an appropriate risk attitude. The book contains practical guidance to setting risk thresholds that take proper account of the influences of organisational risk culture and the individual risk preferences of key stakeholders. Alongside this, individuals and organisations need to choose the risk attitude that will optimise their chances of achieving the desired objectives.

Hyperthinking is predicated on the assumption that the single most important skill required to help you and your organization thrive in the age of perpetual change, digital communications and networks is the mind-set of individuals. This includes your values, your ability to learn and ability to adapt to change. After 14 years of experience with leading global companies, author Philip Weiss has developed an approach that pulls together the ingredients needed for the modern executive to both adapt and thrive in this new age. The Hyperthinking model has been developed and tested on teams, clients and the author's networks with great success. The book explains how Hyperthinking can apply to different facets of our lives, starting from our personal experience and our role in society and shows how to adapt better to the new business world. Hyperthinking is a set of values and tools that, used in combination, enable individuals to embrace change develop their creativity and effectively engage in the digital age. It has been tested by a variety of business executives and helped them to understand change, as well as overcome fear or resistance to technology. Philip Weiss offers the perfect antidote to information overload; a wonderful blueprint for personal and organizational innovation; and a set of perspectives to help us all make sense of a fast-changing business environment. Read it and start Hyperthinking!

Let us endeavor to see things as they are, and then enquire whether we ought to complain. Whether to see life as it is, will give us much consolation, I know not; but the consolation which is drawn from truth if any there be, is solid and durable: that which may be derived from errour, must be, like its original, fallacious and fugitive. Samuel Johnson, Letter to Bennet Langton (1758) Attorneys and clients make hundreds of decisions in every litigation case. From initially deciding which attorney to retain to deciding which witnesses to call at trial, from deciding whether to ?le a complaint to deciding whether to appeal a verdict, attorneys and clients make multiple, critical decisions about strategies, costs, arguments, valuations, evidence and negotiations. Once made, these de- sions are scrutinized by an opponent intent on exploiting the consequences of any mistake. In this intense and adversarial arena, decision-making errors often are transparent, irreversible and dispositive, wielding the power to bankrupt clients and dissolve law ?rms. Although attorneys and clients may regard sound decision making as incidental to effective lawyering, sound decision making actually is the essence of effective lawyering. An attorney's knowledge, intelligence and experience are inert re- urces until the attorney decides how to deploy those skills to serve the client's interests. Those decisions, in turn, largely determine a case's course and outcome.

Management Ideas is a unique guide to the dominant theories influencing management practice in the late 20th century. Kermally explains how some organizations have taken these ideas on board and incorporated them in their strategies in order to survive in today's intensively competitive climate. Management Ideas looks at: Total quality management Benchmarking Customer service Business process re-engineering Performance measurement Empowerment Learning and knowledge-focused organizations The ...in brief books provide a critical 'snapshot' of the major management fashions and fads influencing business strategy. They cut through the consultants' jargon and steer a practical, common sense course through the theory and hype. They provide managers with a balanced view based on evidence rather than missionary zeal, so that they can be better informed.Sultan Kermally is the senior Vice President and the Director of the Economist Conferences. Formerly he was a Senior Group Director at Management Centre Europe, Brussels. He designs conferences on leading edge management issues such as Benchmarking, Empowerment, Process Re-engineering. He is also a part-time lecturer at Durham University Business School.An expanded hardback edition of this book, Total Management Thinking, is also available - ISBN 0750626143

This study, first published in 1986, examines and evaluates the personnel techniques and activities that were characteristic of one period in American industrial life. In later years these techniques and activities came to be known as personnel management or personnel administration. By these terms is meant the policies, procedures, and programs that were introduced by companies for the purpose of bringing about constructive and harmonious relationships between management and its own employees. This title will be of interest to students of business studies and human resource management.

There have been two critical leadership approaches. First Generation Leadership (command and control) was the dominant model until the 1940s. Second Generation Leadership (compliance coupled with rewards and punishments) is still dominant today. This approach is being rejected by 'Generation Y ', threatening the longevity of traditional organisations. In Third Generation Leadership and the Locus of Control, Douglas Long acknowledges the need for a leadership approach that elicits engagement, commitment, and enhanced personal, group, and organisational accountability. This is Third Generation Leadership. At its core lies the issue of where we centre our brain's locus of control and how this impacts on our understanding of and approach to leadership. With examples from everyday situations, underpinned by research, this book is about understanding and applying aspects of neuroscience critical for tomorrow's world. It provides a framework for addressing problems through insights into how the way we use our brains affects values, worldviews and behaviours. The author introduces the concept of 'red zone - blue zone' to explain the differences between a brain controlled by its stem-limbic areas (red zone) and the limbic-cortical cortex areas (blue zone). This becomes a short hand for describing and applying knowledge from neuroscience to encourage practitioners in leadership and management roles to achieve desired outcomes through becoming acquainted with different areas of their brain. Anyone grappling with what is required to deal with Generation Y people in a networked and mobile age will welcome this introduction to the world of third generation leadership.

There was much development of both education and industry in post-World War II Britain. There was, on the one hand, an extension of public education to the secondary school stage and the substantial financial help that was available, which meant that increasing numbers were going to university. On the other, there had been immense advances in scientific and technical knowledge and its application to industry. These advances in industry produced an increase in the demand for trained graduates. This book, first published in 1957, examines this correlation, and provides guidance for both graduates and hiring managers. This title will be of interest to students of human resource management and business studies.