Search results for ""Author Jean-Pierre Briffaut""

Although complexity makes up the very fabric of our daily lives and has been more or less addressed in a wide variety of knowledge fields, the approaches developed in the Natural Sciences and the results obtained over the past century have not yet permeated Management Sciences very much. The main features of the phenomena that the Natural Sciences deal with are: non-linear behavior, self-organization and chaos. They are analyzed with the framing of what is called “systems thinking”, popularized by the mindset pertaining to cybernetics. All pioneers in systems thinking either had direct or indirect connections with Biology, which is the discipline considered complex par excellence by the public. When applying these concepts to Operations Management Systems and modeling organizations by BDI (Beliefs, Desires, Intentions) agents, the lack of predictability in the conduct of change management that is prone to bifurcations (tipping points) in terms of organizational structures and in forecasting future activities, reveals them to be ingrained in the interplay of complexity and chaos.

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Although the theory of operations management has been presented in many textbooks published in the last two decades, the subject of e-enabled operations management is rather short of easily accessible literature. The approach to operations management described in this book is unusual with respect to what is found in standard textbooks. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) impact the ways firms are organised and managed, and as a consequence change the practical means used to conduct business operations. The features of this book are threefold. System approach to business modelling: Business activities, controlling functions and associated information systems are described within a coherent analytical system framework allowing a clear understanding of the various current control and costing concepts. Operations costing is not usually included in textbooks as part of operations management, but it should be. Cost targeting has become an integral part of good practice of business management. Validity of models: Apparently simple models are analyzed in depth. Students must be fully aware of the assumptions made when models are formulated and of their conditions of validity. Applying a model implies automatically that assumptions of a sort are taken for granted. Logistics, procurement and quality management: These three business functions are critical key success factors for managing e-enabled supply chains from suppliers to customers. That is why their main tools are introduced in this document.

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Complexity is not a new issue. In fact, in their day, William of Ockham and René Descartes proposed what can best be described as reductionist methods for dealing with it. Over the course of the twentieth century, a science of complexity has emerged in an ever-increasing number of fields (computer science, artificial intelligence, engineering, among others), and has now become an integral part of everyday life. As a result, everyone is confronted with increasingly complex situations that need to be understood and analyzed from a global perspective, to ensure the sustainability of our common future. Complexities 1 analyzes how complexity is understood and dealt with in the fields of cybersecurity, medicine, mathematics and information. This broad spectrum of disciplines shows that all fields of knowledge are challenged by complexity. The following volume, Complexities 2, examines the social sciences and humanities in relation to complexity.

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