A contrasting look at self-organization in the Internet and next-generation communication networks

This article examines contrasting notions of self-organization in the Internet and next-generation communication networks, by reviewing in some detail recent evidence regarding several of the more popular attempts to explain prominent features of Internet structure and behavior as "emergent phenomena." In these examples, what might appear to the nonexpert as "emergent self-organization" in the Internet actually results from well conceived (albeit perhaps ad hoc) design, with explanations that are mathematically rigorous, in agreement with engineering reality, and fully consistent with network measurements. These examples serve as concrete starting points from which networking researchers can assess whether or not explanations involving self-organization are relevant or appropriate in the context of next-generation communication networks, while also highlighting the main differences between approaches to self-organization that are rooted in engineering design vs. those inspired by statistical physics

Feedback (F) Fueling Adaptation (A) Network Growth (N) and Self-Organization (S): A Complex Systems Design and Evaluation Approach to Professional Development

This paper reports on the efficacy of a professional development framework premised on four complex systems design principles: Feedback, Adaptation, Network Growth and Self-organization (FANS). The framework is applied to the design and delivery of the first two years of a three-year study aimed at improving teacher and student understanding of computational modeling tools. We demonstrate that structuring a professional development program around the FANS framework facilitates the development of important strategies and processes for program organizers such as the identification of salient system variables, effectively distributing expertise, adaptation and improvement of professional development resources and activities and building technological, human and social capital. For participants, there is evidence to show that the FANS framework encourages: professional goal setting, engagement in a strong professional community and personal autonomy by enabling individualized purpose—all fundamental components in promoting self-organization. We discuss three meta-level themes that may account for the success of the FANS framework: structure vs. agency, exploration vs. exploitation and short-term vs. long-term goals. Each illustrates the tension that exists between competing variables that need to be considered in order to work effectively in real world complex educational systems

Witnessing verbal aggression: role of customers' self-conscious emotions

Purpose This paper aims to examine the widespread effects of service actors' verbal aggression on witness customers' intentions toward the service organizations through their self-conscious emotions. The moderating roles of the witness customers' empathic tendencies and the source of aggression are also examined. Design/methodology/approach In two scenario-based experiments and by adopting a multifoci approach, severity of mistreatment (aggression vs incivility vs no-mistreatment) and source of mistreatment (employee-to-employee and customer-to-customer) were manipulated to test distinctive effects of witnessing aggression on self-conscious emotions and intentions. Findings This study shows that witnessing aggression during service experiences negatively influences customers' intentions towards the service organization through self-conscious emotions. Moreover, empathic tendencies of customers make these effects more pronounced. It is also shown that witnessing employee-to-employee aggression has a stronger effect on self-conscious emotions and intentions than customer-to-customer aggression. Originality/value This paper is one of the first attempts to investigate the distinctive effects of witnessing aggression during service experiences and the roles of self-conscious emotions and emphatic tendencies

Proactive self-disclosure of threats : the effects of voluntary disclosure of corporate issues on perceived organizational transparency, credibility, and perceived severity of issues

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on February 27, 2013).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Dissertation advisors: Dr. Maria Len-Rios and Dr. Glen T. CameronIncludes bibliographical references.Vita.Ph. D. University of Missouri--Columbia 2012."December 2012"Guided by the public relations literature of stealing thunder and organizational transparency, this study examined the effects of corporations' self-disclosure claims of their issues via Facebook on audience perceptions. The study used a 3 (information disclosure: voluntary vs. responsive vs. obligatory disclosure) x 2 (referral source: presence vs. absence) mixed-subject design experiment with 142 adult participants (mean age = 35.4). The results showed that regardless of one's prior involvement toward a stimuli brand, the voluntary disclosure of a corporate issue led the participants to perceive that company as more transparent and more credible than either the “responsive” disclosure messages or the “obligatory” disclosure. Notwithstanding, the voluntary, self-disclosure condition, when compared to the obligatory condition, was more effective in reducing participants' perceived severity of the particular issue. The results theoretically extend the stealing-thunder literature, in a way that public might view a company's disclosure as either volunteered or forced to respond, given that the responsive and the mandatory disclosure of information were essentially the same in responses. The findings also suggest that an organization may strategically use the voluntary information disclosure with their social media platforms, if the strategy can enhance greater transparency and credibility perceptions toward the organization using that strategy and further, mitigate the severity perceptions toward the threats.Includes bibliographical reference

From job crafting to job quitting? Testing a wise proactivity perspective

Purpose: This study investigates when and for whom job crafting may turn into job quitting. The authors hypothesize that approach job crafting relates more positively to turnover intentions and subsequent voluntary job changes among employees with (a) high (vs low) need for career challenges and (b) those with high (vs low) self-esteem. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 575 employees of a large public organization in the Netherlands with two measurement moments three months apart. Hypotheses were tested using cross-lagged regression analyses and path modeling. Findings: Supporting the hypotheses, approach crafting related positively to an increase in turnover intentions only among employees with high need for challenge or high self-esteem. Moreover, via turnover intentions at Time 1, approach crafting related positively to the voluntary job change at Time 2 for employees with (a) high need for challenge, as well as those with (b) high self-esteem. These findings held after controlling for avoidance crafting. Research limitations/implications: This study has been conducted in a relatively homogenous sample. Future research may test the predictions in a more heterogeneous sample, including participants from different cultural and economic contexts. Practical implications: The authors advise human resource (HR) professionals to facilitate the job crafting efforts of employees with a high need for challenge and those with high self-esteem because these groups are particularly at risk of voluntarily quitting their jobs. Adopting insights from the wise proactivity model may help ensure that job crafting benefits both employees and employers. Originality/value: This study brings clarity to the inconsistent relationships between job crafting and job quitting by using the wise proactivity model as an explanatory framework.</p

Effects of Compensation Systems on Job Search Decisions: An Application of Person-Organization Fit

Past research has demonstrated the importance of pay level in job search and choice processes. Compensation policies other than pay level may have important effects on applicant attraction, yet there has been little research examining this possibility. The role of person-organization fit in job search and job choice decisions has also been supported. Because pay systems define an organization\u27s expectations and culture, they may be an important organizational attribute for individuals to compare with their needs and values; thus the corresponding level of fit between compensation policies and individuals\u27 dispositions may affect subsequent job search and choice decisions. Using several research methods and a sample of individuals currently involved in the interviewing process, this stugy examines both the main and interactive effects of various pay system attributes on job search. Resulting analyses primarily supported the hypotheses, suggesting that many facets of pay systems may have important effects on individuals\u27 job search and choice decisions

Design Your Career - Design Your Life

This research investigates the current plague of unemployment and underemployment that nearly half of qualified individuals in the field of Visual Communications are met with after graduation. Students who major in this field dedicate a tremendous amount of time, money, and energy toward developing a broad skillset that resolves critical matters of communication through visual solutions. Research has demonstrated that despite conditions that are subject to ongoing change of economy, industry, and marketplace there are contributing factors that must be addressed to overcome un/underemployment regardless of circumstances. These include an underdeveloped network of professional contacts, deficiency in recognizing or responding to changing conditions, and a limited ability to customize one’s career around their unique specialization. The purpose of this study is to provide students who major in Visual Communications the information and tools needed to incorporate their ability to adapt and problem solve from their skillset into their search for work. To explore this issue, information was gathered through secondary research that involved data from federal databases, case studies, literature review, and secondary research in general. Return on investment for one’s education is measured in consideration of three primary themes: job satisfaction, income, and quality of life, which may provide hopeful opportunity for professionals in Visual Communications to overcome un/underemployment through career customization

Is social categorization spatially organized in a “Mental Line”? Empirical evidences for spatial bias in intergroup differentiation

Social categorization is the differentiation between the self and others and between one’s own group and other groups and it is such a natural and spontaneous process that often we are not aware of it. The way in which the brain organizes social categorization remains an unresolved issue. We present three experiments investigating the hypothesis that social categories are mentally ordered from left to right on an ingroup–outgroup continuum when membership is salient. To substantiate our hypothesis, we consider empirical evidence from two areas of psychology: research on differences in processing of ingroups and outgroups and research on the effects of spatial biases on processing of quantitative information (e.g., time; numbers) which appears to be arranged from left to right on a small–large continuum, an effect known as the spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC). In Experiments 1 and 2 we tested the hypothesis that when membership of a social category is activated, people implicitly locate ingroup categories to the left of a mental line whereas outgroup categories are located on the far right of the same mental line. This spatial organization persists even when stimuli are presented on one of the two sides of the screen and their (explicit) position is spatially incompatible with the implicit mental spatial organization of social categories (Experiment 3). Overall the results indicate that ingroups and outgroups are processed differently. The results are discussed with respect to social categorization theory, spatial agency bias, i.e., the effect observed in Western cultures whereby the agent of an action is mentally represented on the left and the recipient on the right, and the SNARC effec

Workplace 2000: A Delphi-Study

[Excerpt] Prognosticate and one thing is certain: you are likely to be wrong. Then why speculate about Workplace 20001 Because Boulding is right; as the future unfolds, surprise is preferable to astonishment. Informed speculation enhances anticipation and understanding, the bases of informed decision-making. It produces a vision with which to agree or disagree, and the means to ascertain why. If the vision proves disagreeable, there is a baseline from which to plot a preferred scenario. For in the end, Workplace 2000 will emerge not from prediction, but from choice

Do you pass it on? An examination of the consequences of perceived cyber incivility

Purpose: The emerging literature on computer-mediated communication at the study lacks depth in terms of elucidating the consequences of the effects of incivility on employees. This study aims to compare face-to-face incivility with incivility encountered via e-mail on both task performance and performance evaluation. Design/methodology/approach: In two experimental studies, the authors test whether exposure to incivility via e-mail reduces individual task performance beyond that of face-to-face incivility and weather exposure to that incivility results in lower performance evaluations for third-parties. Findings: The authors show that being exposed to cyber incivility does decrease performance on a subsequent task. The authors also find that exposure to rudeness, both face-to-face and via e-mail, is contagious and results in lower performance evaluation scores for an uninvolved third party. Originality/value: This research comprises an empirically grounded study of incivility in the context of e-mail at study, highlights distinctions between it and face-to-face rudeness and reveals the potential risks that cyber incivility poses for employees