Researchpedia Journal of Computing, Volume 1, Issue 1, Article 1, Pages 1-14, June 2020

Publisher: Researchpedia.infoDownload PDF

Sonia Kherbachi1,2, Naima Benkhider3, and Nassim Keddari4

1Department of Management, FSECSG, University of Bejaia, 06000 Bejaia, Algeria
2School of Economics and Management, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
3LRMTQ, Department of Management, FSECSG, University of Bejaia, 06000 Bejaia, Algeria
4LED, Department of Commercial Sciences, FSECSG, University of Bejaia, 06000 Bejaia, Algeria
Corresponding author: Sonia Kherbachi (soniakherbachi@gmail.com).

ABSTRACT The complexity of open communication stemming from teams’ interactions is a fundamental feature of the Global Product Development projects. Design Structure Matrix models and the clustering method are effective approaches for analyzing and optimizing the virtual organization architecture and reducing management complexity. In order to optimize virtual organization architecture, this paper presents a Design Structure Matrix-based spectral clustering approach through identifying core teams and measuring similarity between virtual teams. Firstly, the open communication frequency related to product features is built based on mapping network. Further, this paper proposes a method combining the Information Connectivity Matrix and the Responsibility Measurement Matrix to rank teams and identify core teams based on the PageRank algorithm of Social Network Analysis. In order to measure similarity between virtual teams, this paper presents concepts of Receiver Similarity Index and Sender Similarity Index and utilizes the spectral clustering algorithm to optimize organization architecture. Finally, an industrial example is provided to illustrate the proposed models. The optimization process and comparison test indicate that the proposed method is a more robust clustering algorithm and results provide an integrated managerial insight for reducing management complexity in open communication platforms.

Keywords Design Structure Matrix; Global Product Development, Open Communication Frequency; Organization Architecture; Social Network; Spectral Clustering