A readiness assessment model for human systems management digitalization in industrial organizations

ABSTRACT

Human systems management (HSM) in organizations must invest in digitization to remain competitive. Even though there is no denying digitalization is essential for modern industrial organizations, the success of digitalization projects is rarely contingent on chance. HSM digitalization requires more than just technology. It also requires leadership, people, strategy, innovation, and process readiness. Organizations must select the most suitable digitalization project to initiate the transition and begin by increasing and monitoring readiness for a successful transition. A practical approach to a successful transition begins with increasing and monitoring readiness. The literature suggests a lack of analytical assessment models for HSM digitalization readiness in industrial organizations, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This research presents a framework with the general best-worst method (GBWM) to examine decision criteria and help organizations, particularly SMEs, choose the most effective digitalization strategy. A case study demonstrates the applicability and efficacy of the proposed method in assessing HSM digitalization readiness in SMEs.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Human systems management (HSM)
• digitalization
• small and medium enterprise (SME)
• multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM)
• general best-worst method (GBWM)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Madjid Tavana

Madjid Tavana is a Professor and Distinguished Chair of Business Analytics at La Salle University. He holds an Honorary Professorship in Management Information Systems and Operations Research at the University of Paderborn in Germany. He also serves on the Scientific Committee of the Doctoral Program in Business and Economics at the Sapienza University of Rome in Italy. Dr. Tavana is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Kennedy Space Center, the Johnson Space Center, the Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis Space Center, and the Air Force Research Laboratory. He was recently honored with the prestigious Space Act Award by NASA. He holds an MBA, PMIS, and PhD in Management Information Systems and received his Post-Doctoral Diploma in Strategic Information Systems from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published over 22 edited books and 370 research papers in academic journals. Dr. Tavana is the Editor-in-Chief of Decision Analytics Journal (Elsevier), Healthcare Analytics (Elsevier), Supply Chain Analytics (Elsevier), International Journal of Applied Decision Sciences, International Journal of Management and Decision Making, International Journal of Communication Networks and Distributed Systems, and International Journal of Knowledge Engineering and Data Mining. He is also an editor at Information Sciences, Annals of Operations Research, Expert Systems with Applications, Computers and Industrial Engineering, Journal of Innovation and Knowledge, Intelligent Systems with Applications, Journal of Industrial and Production Engineering, and Sustainable Technology and Entrepreneurship. He is the founding editor and Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Space Mission Planning and Operations, International Journal of Strategic Decision Sciences, and International Journal of Enterprise Information Systems. Dr. Tavana has been a Visiting Scholar at the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management and has held several Visiting Professorships in France, Italy, Switzerland, Korea, China, Ukraine, and Mexico.

Shahryar Sorooshian

Shahryar Sorooshian is an Associate Professor at the Department of Business Administration at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. He has completed his MS and PhD in industrial engineering and worked in various industries, business schools, and universities before joining the University of Gothenburg. He is an Associate Editor of the Decision Analytics Journal and has published several articles in highly regarded journals and conference proceedings throughout his career. He teaches courses in Industrial and Financial Management & Logistics at the University of Gothenburg. His research interest is mostly in industrial engineering/management and business analytics.

Roya Ashrafidehkordi

Roya Ashrafidehkordi is a PhD student in information systems at the G. Brint Ryan College of Business at the University of North Texas. Her academic background includes an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in business administration. Her interest in research lies in areas such as digitalization, information systems and business intelligence, data science, human-computer Interaction, and Industrial Engineering.

Hassan Mina

Hassan Mina is a research associate at the Prime School of Logistics, Saito University College in Selangor, Malaysia. He completed his graduate studies in Socio‐Economic Systems Engineering at the University of Tehran. He has published more than 40 international journal articles in leading journals such as the International Journal of Production Research, International Journal of Production Economics, Journal of Cleaner Production, Computers and Industrial Engineering, Journal of Business Research, Annals of Operations Research, and Expert Systems with Applications. His research interests are operations research, circular economy, supplier selection, green and sustainable supply chain, optimization, algorithms, blockchain technology, and multi‐criteria decision‐making.