Applying Causal Reasoning to Analyze Value Systems

Abstract

Abstract. Collaborative networked organizations are composed of heterogeneous and autonomous entities. Thus it is natural that each member has its own set of values and preferences, as a result, conflicts among partners might emerge due to some values misalignment. Therefore, tools to support the analysis of Value Systems in a collaborative context are relevant to improve the network management. Since a Value System reflects the set of values and preferences of an actor, which are cognitive issues, a cognitive approach based on qualitative causal maps is suggested. Qualitative inference methods are presented in order to assess the potential for conflicts among network members and the positive impact between members' Value Systems. The software tool developed, in order to support the proposed framework and the qualitative inference methods, is briefly presented.

Value Systems Management Model for Co-innovation

“…In recent years some studies have explored the importance of Value Systems in the context of Collaborative Networks (CN) [4,12,13]. Furthermore, a set of tools (frameworks, methods and a web application) [6,7] have been proposed based on a Value System Conceptual Model to support the configuration and analysis of Value Systems in collaborative environments. However, such set of tools have just been applied to CNs in general terms, none of them being applied to support co-innovation management in particular.…”

“…As previously proposed in [6] and [7], not just the common core-values will be considered as relevant criteria to assess the values alignment between two entities, but also the core-values that influence positively or negatively the core-values specified in the collaborative innovation evaluation perspective will be considered. Thus, the notion of collaborative innovation value profile is introduced to cover this idea.…”

“…For this group the following collaborative innovation evaluation perspective was specified: Two Universities, one Research Institute of Applied research, and one SME Network joined the group (for a question of privacy, the partners are not identified). For these four organizations the work package manager has provided the data required for specifying the following core-evaluation perspectives: Applying the qualitative assessment inference methods (described in detail in [7]) to evaluate the degree of alignment in terms of co-innovation characteristics of each innovation partner , the results presented in Table 1 can be achieved. Observing these results, it can be noticed that the Research Institute is not aligned with the Innovation Group's collaborative innovation evaluation perspective.…”

“…Even so, this paper presents only part of the results achieved during this research, more specifically, it discusses how the models and methods proposed in [5][6][7] can be applied to analyze and assess the level of alignment between the network and the potential partners in terms of collaborative innovation profile.…”