As organizations have become more complex over the past twenty years, so have the structures and the governance mechanisms that control them. Similarly, with the growth of various computer technologies, IT has become increasingly complex, in terms of hardware, software, and architecture. Thus, the governance and structure of IT reflects both organizational and technological changes. During the ...

One of the reforms proposed for Ontario’s broader public sector by the Drummond Report is the establishment of centralized bargaining structures. As Chaykowski and Hickey have argued, such a reform “must consider whether, how, and in what context, alternative bargaining structures and enhanced coordination could yield outcomes which promote efficiencies and improve value.” In this regard, the t...

This paper develops a decentralized leader-follower game for network design of a competitive supply chain problem in which a new chain as the leader enters a market with one existing supply chain as a follower. Both chains produce an identical product, customer demand is inelastic and customer utility function is based on Huff gravity-based model. The leader wants to shape his network and set a...

Recent changes in the English National Health Service (NHS) have introduced new complexities into the accountability arrangements for healthcare services. This commentary describes how the new organizational structures have challenged the traditional centralized accountability structures by creating a more dispersed system of governance for local health-care commissioners. It sets the context o...

This research investigates how institutional carriers – from rules and power systems to cognitive schemas and information technology – influence the reproduction of centralized decision-making governance structures in virtual communities. Studying a group of four virtual communities, the findings show that community members invoke a variety of institutional carriers in order to try to legitimat...

The complex relationships between organizational practices have been the focus of information technology business value (ITBV) research in recent years. There appears to be a discernible trend toward a more nuanced view in which the effects of information technology (IT), various organizational practices and their complex interactions are systematically investigated. Building on the theoretical...

The traditional view of the cnidarian nervous system is of a diffuse nerve net that functions as both a conducting and an integrating system; this is considered an indicator of a primitive condition. Yet, in medusoid members, varying degrees of nerve net compression and neuronal condensation into ganglion-like structures represent more centralized integrating centers. In some jellyfish, this re...

We re-address the trade-off between centralized and decentralized decision making of local policies when policy makers are subject to capture. In particular, we consider the case where lobbies have private information about their ability to influence. We find a new informational effect in the political game under centralized structures that gives the policy maker additional bargaining power aga...

In this paper we present a multi-key index model that enables us to search a record with more than one attribute values in distributed database systems. Indices provide fast and efficient access of data and so become a major aspect in centralized database systems. Most of the centralized database systems use B+ tree or other types of index structures such as bit vector, graph structure, grid fi...

Two organizational structures for a retail chain are examined for their effect on the rate of firm innovation. A centralized organization is defined as one in which store practices are mandated from corporate headquarters (HQ) and this results in HQ being the sole source of new ideas. A decentralized organization gives freedom to store managers to adopt their own ideas and disseminates innovati...