The paper reports on a research project that encompasses two key objectives: (1) finding out about the barriers affecting or preventing e-learning from being adopted by companies as an integral part of their workforce's training and learning processes and (2) establishing a comparison between the barriers and the e-learning implementation models found in Kuwait and in the practice of Western companies. The practices from Western countries are used as a benchmark for the Kuwaiti experience. The collection of the primary data was carried out through the use of semi-structured questionnaires with human resources managers as well as IT managers in charge of the e-learning of 11 of the largest companies in Kuwait. The research results show that the key implementation barriers in Kuwait are (1) lack of management support; (2) language barriers; (3) IT problems; and (4) workload and lack of time. From these, two are common to Western countries (technology and time). The remaining two (management support and language barriers) are specific to Kuwait. Regarding the comparison between the two implementation models, the key finding was that the usual e-learning development cycle (plan-designintegrate-improve) was not followed in Kuwait. The planning, designing and improving stages were largely ignored, with the emphasis resting almost completely on integrating the e-learning tools and processes in the rest of the organization. This finding was found to be in line with barrier number onelack of management support. The key lesson learned from this research is that the problem of e-learning implementation in Kuwait is not so much one of knowing what the barriers are but one of knowing what the appropriate management processes should be for companies to achieve business success. The paper also provides recommendations for an e-learning development plan to fit the current business environment in Kuwait.
This editorial is concerned with the need for an integrated approach to the design and engineering of organisations and their enterprises. Organisational Design originates from the organisational sciences, while the notion of Enterprise Engineering results from the engineering sciences (most notably information systems engineering, business (process) engineering, business process optimisation, and enterprise architecture). The Organisational Design and Enterprise Engineering journal (OD&EE) is built on the premise that there should not be an "either-or" relation between Organisational Design and Enterprise Engineering, but rather an integrated approach that brings out the best of the two. A driver for the creation of the journal was the observation that the "either-or" mindset was (and still is) a major obstacle to the development of organisational thinking, and that this artificial divide must be abolished. In achieving more integration between Organisational Design and Enterprise Engineering, we suggest to take a model-enabled approach, where models should act as boundary objects between the social processes involved in organisational design processes, This editorial paper is discussed in comments available at doi:10. 1007/s41251-016-0001-0, doi:10.1007/s41251-016-0002-z, doi:10. 1007/s41251-016-0004-x, doi:10.1007/s41251-016-0006-8, doi:10. 1007/s41251-016-0007-7.
This paper reports on a study carried out in Kuwait aimed at exploring the motivational factors which drive consumers to mention company names in Twitter. Building on existing models for eWOM motives and using Twitter as the tool for data collection, an electronic questionnaire was launched with the help of a number of opinion leaders. A total of 1,192 valid responses were collected from 5,011 hits. Data were statistically analyzed to extract the strongest factors. Concern for Other Consumers, Extraversion/Positive Self Enhancement, Venting Negative Feelings and Helping the Company are the primary factors. However, the findings are inconclusive when considering the proposition that studies aimed at identifying motivational factors behind eWOM engagement, differences can be expected in results from populations with predominantly collectivist values as opposed to populations with predominantly individualist values. Assuming that in the Kuwaiti cultural context individualist values predominate, it would have been expected to have results which are different from those obtained in studies carried out among populations whose cultural values are predominantly collectivist. However, this was not the case. In some factors the results are very similar, while in others, results are markedly different. This suggests that more research is needed in the cross cultural implications of motivational factors behind eWOM engagement.
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