Several students in my undergrad IT major capstone class commented in their review of a Cisco case that virtual manufacturing appeared to be feasible and attractive. The concept of a virtual source is similar to OOM in that the details of the manufacturing object are hidden and only the deliverables are exposed. Moreover, the manufacturing object may be viewed as a member of an ISA parent class with many contractual attributes inherited.
I read a paper on a Java-based Unified Modelling Language (UML) applet today that might be helpful in developing OOM examples (Auer, 2003)
I also started reading Weisfeld (2009), The Object Oriented Thought Process. I chose the Weisfeld book (downloaded to my Kindle) because of the author's approach to OOD as a thought process versus as a software design methodology. I believe that a similar approach will be needed to construct a theory of management. I read an article by Corely & Gioia (2011) on building theory that provides a contribution to the practice of management versus a contribution to the theory of management. The argument that parallel previous articles on rigor vs. relevance in scientific papers seems to be taking hold in the minds of at least the editors of The Academy of Management Journal. References Auer, M., Tschurtschenthaler, T., & Biffi, S. (2003). A flyweight UML modelling tool for software development in heterogenous environments. Paper presented at the 29th EUROMICRO Conference "New waves in system architecture". Weisfeld, M. (2009). The Object-Oriented Thought Process (3rd ed. Vol. Kindle). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley. I presented a less than 5-minute summary of OOM to my InfoTech class yesterday and it appeared that they perceived the just of the concept. Of course, as IT students they are already somewhat familiar with OO Design and Programming. Nevertheless, I had a 'good' feeling about the conciseness of the presentation and
I read Perrow (1973, The Short and Glorious History of Organizational Theory) today and feel that it may serve as a framework for a theory paper on OOM. Primary argument is 'mechanical school theories versus 'human relation's school theories'. Since the 60s the trend has been from mechanical school to human school with a noticeable backlash from institutionalists. OOM might be framed as biological (i.e. partially humanistic) system if interface protocols allowed 3rd party 'smart' mediation. Smart agents, like those be tested by some academics to media power switching in an intelligent energy grid could be added to a virtual firm OOM network to provide load balancing and cost optimization.
The purpose of this blog is to journal my thoughts relative to my academic pursuits. Input from others is welcome.
I met with WP today and discussed OOM as a practical organizational design. The idea of quality control and contingent load switching protocols was addressed.
I wonder if the OOM design will stymie innovation by encapsulating the objects without a specific innovation protocol? |