Abstract. Organization design can be a fruitful inspirational source when doing research on contemporary organizations. The star model's first version was adapted so it matches the evolution of firm strategy. These adaptations far from signaling the star model's weakness show the real strength of a systemic framework where some of the firm's essential components and design evolutivity are built-in. Since the 1980s the increase in close collaboration between formally independent firms and legally autonomous actors poses challenges for our thinking about organizational design. If Meta-organizations involve multiple firms as well as communities of non-contractually linked individuals, an emphasis on intrafirm design may be incomplete. Because firms have partially moved from stand-alone organizations to meta-organizations, we propose to include meta-organization design enabling firms to collaborate.

PurposeThis paper seeks to offer a strategic and socio technical analysis of the productivity of telephone call centers from the perspective of Galbraith's organizational design theory.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a quantitative survey of 155 call center managers in France, which benefited from extensive preparation through ten case studies.FindingsWhen focusing the analysis on call centers handling only inbound calls, five main factors: the profile of the telephone operators, division of labor, goals, reward system and the technology – including automated call distribution, computer telephony integration and e‐mail – are found to be important productivity enhancersResearch limitations/implicationsPerceptual measures when used are based on single items.Practical implicationsThe findings confirm the paramount impact of human resources' profile on the efficiency of call centers. As expected, automated call distribution is above all a productivity tool and should be recommended to all call centersSocial implicationsDivision of labor is important but, beyond a personal relationship with each customer, work in call centers has a collective component, which is best reflected by the efficiency of collective rewards.Originality/valueThe paper provides an evaluation method of call center productivity based on a first literature review on call centers from an IS perspective. It adapts Galbraith's organizational design theory and shows that for inbound call centers, which can be considered as a group of domains or set of tasks in Galbraith's organizational design theory, people, structure, goals assigned, rewards and IT all have an impact on productivity measured with the rate of efficiency.

L’évaluation des serious games de formation (SG) est une étape cruciale pour garantir le succès de ces logiciels qui suscitent de la part des organisations, un intérêt grandissant. Les Etablissements d’Hébergement pour Personnes Agées Dépendantes (EHPAD) d’une part, pâtissent d’un déficit d’image et d’autre part, leurs personnels ont un rythme de travail élevé. Les SG peuvent alors représenter une solution intéressante de formation. Le SG étudié utilise les technologies de la simulation 3D pour trois situations de formation à destination des personnels hôteliers et soignants des EHPAD : (1) l’accueil du résident, (2) la prise de repas et (3) le refus de soins. L’évaluation du SG est basée sur une approche qualitative permettant d’appréhender, par l’observation, les modalités de l’utilisation du serious game par les personnels et d’opérer une comparaison entre ce SG et les facteurs rapportés par la littérature sur les SG.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of Cross-Functional Awareness (CFA) and to question how firm size influences the impact of ERP implementation strategies on CFA. Specifically, the paper questions whether size moderates the capability of the firm to achieve CFA. Design/methodology/approach -The authors developed and empirically tested a conceptual framework using the partial least squares structural equation modeling approach. This study gathered data from a sample of 45 French SMEs and 55 French large firms. Findings -The results show that ERP implementation strategies (flexibility, organizational vision, Business Process Re-Engineering, speed of implementation, and focus on core modules) have a direct positive relationship and, in large firms, an indirect relationship (via data quality improvement) with the emergence of CFA. The study also suggests that firm size moderates the resulting emergence of ERP-enabled CFA. The findings will help researchers understand the factors associated with ERP implementation and use that promote or inhibit successful use of ERP systems. Research limitations/implications -Similar to many published ERP surveys, the sample size is small. In addition, the authors examined CFA in the survey from the perspective of a single respondent per firm. Finally, there may be a cultural limitation linked to the respondents all being French firms. Practical implications -The findings will promote a better understanding of the concept of CFA and its benefits amongst managers, leading to increased productivity and efficiency with ERP. In particular, they will help practitioners identify and manage the right factors during ERP implementations. Originality/value -In the expanding world of Enterprise System research, this paper is significant in that it studies the effect of ERP implementation on CFA rather than investigating the factors affecting ERP implementation or the outcomes of ERP implementations. To the best of the knowledge, this is one of the few papers that theoretically articulates and empirically explores the concept of CFA, and tests the relationship between implementation strategy factors and CFA, including the moderating The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at role of size in the context of ERP. The contribution shows that the firm size effect should be examined at the level of SMEs and larger firms separately, rather than at an overall level.

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