Looking for a place to hide: a study of social loafing in agile teams

Social loafing refers to the behaviour of individual members of a team who have tendency not to work as hard as they could or should, because social groups provide a degree of anonymity such that individual team members feel that their poor performance will be hidden by the overall output of the team. Agile Software Development philosophy espouses the importance of cohesive project teams, the empowerment of these teams, and the collective ownership of the code produced by the team — social values similar to those of communities of practice. This paper posits that one of the unintended consequences of Agile Software Development is that it may give rise to social loafing, under certain conditions. In order to test this proposition, research was carried out on two software development teams over an eight month period to determine if the values inherent in Agile Software Development could give rise to social loafing The theoretical assumption adopted by the authors was that the project team which fully adopted the agile approach would exhibit a greater tendency for social loafing, in comparison to the other team. The findings of the study indicate, however, that the opposite was the case; accordingly, the study’s findings are interpreted to offer an explanation for this apparent paradox

Crossing the hurdle: the determinants of individual scientific performance

An original cross sectional dataset referring to a medium sized Italian university is implemented in order to analyze the determinants of scientific research production at individual level. The dataset includes 942 permanent researchers of various scientific sectors for a three year time span (2008 - 2010). Three different indicators - based on the number of publications or citations - are considered as response variables. The corresponding distributions are highly skewed and display an excess of zero - valued observations. In this setting, the goodness of fit of several Poisson mixture regression models are explored by assuming an extensive set of explanatory variables. As to the personal observable characteristics of the researchers, the results emphasize the age effect and the gender productivity gap, as previously documented by existing studies. Analogously, the analysis confirm that productivity is strongly affected by the publication and citation practices adopted in different scientific disciplines. The empirical evidence on the connection between teaching and research activities suggests that no univocal substitution or complementarity thesis can be claimed: a major teaching load does not affect the odds to be a non-active researcher and does not significantly reduce the number of publications for active researchers. In addition, new evidence emerges on the effect of researchers administrative tasks, which seem to be negatively related with researcher's productivity, and on the composition of departments. Researchers' productivity is apparently enhanced by operating in department filled with more administrative and technical staff, and it is not significantly affected by the composition of the department in terms of senior or junior researchers.Comment: Revised version accepted for publication by Scientometric

Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2020, which was planned to be held during June 8-12, 2020, at the IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the conference was postponed until an undetermined date. XP is the premier agile software development conference combining research and practice. It is a hybrid forum where agile researchers, academics, practitioners, thought leaders, coaches, and trainers get together to present and discuss their most recent innovations, research results, experiences, concerns, challenges, and trends. Following this history, for both researchers and seasoned practitioners XP 2020 provided an informal environment to network, share, and discover trends in Agile for the next 20 years. The 14 full and 2 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 37 submissions. They were organized in topical sections named: agile adoption; agile practices; large-scale agile; the business of agile; and agile and testing

Technical and marketing support systems for successful small and medium-size enterprises in four countries

Studies of successful and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and their marketing and technical support systems were undertaken for Colombia, Indonesia, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. Three to four subsectors were examined in each country. The sample worldwide amounted to 445 firms. Mechanisms to support export marketing varied across countries and subsectors. How they varied depended greatly on whether SMEs operated within well-developed private networks. When market penetration begins, transaction costs are high and collective marketing support can be important. As markets"thicken,"initiatives by foreign buyers become more important. Generally the most effective collective marketing support was of the kind that can be provided more effectively by decentralized organizations - such as industry associations or local governments and chambers of commerce (support firms'participation in trade fairs, for example) - than by central government institutions. Private mechanisms were more important than collective mechanisms for helping firms improve their technological capability. Demand for collective mechanisms tended to be greater when technological requirements of production were complex or when the endowments of private technological networks in certain countries or industries were weak. Broad-based collective technical support facilitates the emergence of an information-rich environment for firms, and may be worth pursuing in many settings. Examples of such support include: 1) sponsoring courses in specialized topics; 2) facilitating the use of expert consultants (either directly, by making a consultant available to a broad array of firms, or indirectly, by providing financial support for the use of consultants); and 3) promoting information-sharing among firms. Countries that already have strong broad-based collective support and that are moving into technologically more advanced activities might consider"high-intensity"support, but should proceed with caution.Microfinance,Small and Medium Size Enterprises,Small Scale Enterprise,Markets and Market Access,Water Conservation,Microfinance,Private Participation in Infrastructure,Small Scale Enterprise,Access to Markets,Markets and Market Access

Support and services for parents : a review of practice development in Scotland

Three year national evaluated pilot intended to focus on systems and practice for the operation of Parenting orders

The role of experiential knowledge in foreign market commitment: A process perspective on the internationalisation of Australian services SMEs

The Uppsala internationalisation model established some foundations for research in international business. But since the introduction of this internationalisation process model in mid-1970s, the business environment has changed significantly. It is important to reflect on how these changes affect the interplay between experiential learning and foreign market commitment, a key plank in the Uppsala model. This thesis focuses on a core assumption that underlies the model: that a high degree of foreign market commitment results from rational decisions that firms take during a learning process based on complete knowledge and information. In 2009, the protagonists of the Uppsala model offered a much more nuanced perception of a firm’s learning process, when they stressed that firms rely of a wider range of relationships, interactions and contexts that impact on their accumulation of experiential knowledge. Some studies have used proxy variables to capture this process through variance-based quantitative analysis. This thesis uses a process approach, conceptualised on the basis of several theories to understand the complexity of the learning process that underlies the internationalisation of firms. The true process approach to studying the internationalisation of the firm has been neglected for some time and the field of international business studies had been dominated by variance-based studies. Inevitably, this has led to a situation where ‘we see far too many “rigorous” studies with little originality and, at best, a marginal contribution’, as Johanson and Vahlne (2014: 173) expressed it. The process approach conceptualised, developed and applied in the analysis in this thesis may be a better instrument to understand causal relationships between experiential knowledge accumulation or learning and foreign market commitment, as well as other internationalisation processes that take place over periods of time. This research is focused on the micro-foundations of internationalisation attempts of firms. These processes are analysed in light of relevant spatiotemporal context. The findings document the key aspects of the internationalisation process without devoting the analysis to what Outhwaite (1987: 7-12) has labelled the positivist ‘law-explanation orthodoxy’. Instead, this thesis relies on abductive reasoning and longitudinal case studies to contextualise learning processes and changes in such processes over a period of time throughout the internationalisation process. It analyses the internationalisation of seven Australian services SMEs in order to provide causal explanations for a specific sequence of critical events that influenced the foreign market commitments of these firms. An additional methodological contribution of this thesis is the implementation of content analysis, clustering and multidimensional scaling of the contents of interviews, which accounts for relevant context without undermining the scientific explanation and rigour of the approach. By studying case histories and the chronology of critical events in the internationalisation attempts of these firms, we demonstrate that an accommodating learning style is most closely associated with the foreign market commitment of firms. Nonetheless, experiential learning is dynamic in nature and often requires decision makers to touch all bases of the learning cycle. As expected, the key sources of knowledge are relevant business and people-to-people networks, as well as prior learning experiences of decision makers that often go beyond the lifespan of the firm. Experiential learning is found to be a context-dependent process that is utterly complex in nature. The thesis demonstrates how critical events trigger experiential learning as well as explain what the decision makers learn as part of this learning process. Rather than measuring the stock of experiential knowledge, the thesis demonstrates how learning processes alter individual perceptions of foreign market opportunities. The findings reconfirm that change processes (i.e. experiential learning, building business networks and trust) are continuous, while market commitment decisions (i.e. market entry mode, degree of internationalisation) are intermittent. These findings precisely challenge the results of variance-based studies that rely on limited firm-level indicators to capture and analyse experiential learning processes. This thesis builds on the call of Johanson and Vahlne (2014) to broaden our understanding of the practice of the internationalisation of firms by focusing on the behavioural aspects of human decision-making, such as the role of business networks and trust. To date, there are few studies that explain what exactly is learnt as part of the internationalisation process and how this information and/or knowledge actually affects foreign market opportunity recognition. Experiential knowledge remains the pivotal aspect of the internationalisation process and this research helps to conceptualise and operationalise relevant theory and provide causal explanations

Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2021, which was held virtually during June 14-18, 2021. XP is the premier agile software development conference combining research and practice. It is a unique forum where agile researchers, practitioners, thought leaders, coaches, and trainers get together to present and discuss their most recent innovations, research results, experiences, concerns, challenges, and trends.  XP conferences provide an informal environment to learn and trigger discussions and welcome both people new to agile and seasoned agile practitioners. This year’s conference was held with the theme “Agile Turns Twenty While the World Goes Online”. The 11 full and 2 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 38 submissions. They were organized in topical sections named: agile practices; process assessment; large-scale agile; and short contributions

Evaluation Report of MakeBelieve Arts Helicopter Technique of Storytelling and Storyacting

This research, commissioned by MakeBelieve Arts, a London-based theatre and education company, evaluated their educational programme for enhancing young children’s storytelling and story acting. The programme, called the ‘Helicopter Technique’, is based on the work of Gussin Paley’s work. Whilst this has received widespread recognition in the field of children’s play and narrative engagement , ther has been little empirical research into its benefits. The work encompassed examination of archival material and classroom based observations and documentation, as well as scrutiny of the children’s stories scribed in class story books,and interviews with staff involved in the pre prgramme taaining and in class coaching. The work aimed to investigate the value of this approach for children and early years practitioners, and to consider how programme could be improved and made more sustainable in early years classrooms. Overall, the Helicopter Technique was found to provide a rich framework for supporting young children’s learning across diverse curriculum areas, and was a motivating and valuable pedagogical tool for developing creative and reflective teaching. Diverse recommendatiosn were made regarding the future development of the technique

Gamification in Human-Centric Operations : Method for Manufacturing Execution Systems

Manual labor tasks can be repetitive and lack feedback, but what if we could add game-like elements to them, or enable gameful experiences? However, gamification, the addition of gamelike elements or gameful experiences, can address this issue. Gamification is a growing area of research that has gained attention and yielded results, particularly in education and general business processes. This thesis presents research on how gamification could be applied to a Manufacturing Execution System (MES). The research question is “How should a gamified MES be designed?” The research is commissioned by a company in the manufacturing sector, in cooperation with an international manufacturing company as part of their joint Industry 5.0 initiative. To begin, research establishes a theoretical background of gamification and its applications in similar manufacturing environments. This thesis presents practices, methods, recommendations, and features for gamification in general, as well as context-specific knowledge. The design science research methodology is used to achieve important outcomes, such as setting the knowledge base, designing and developing the gamification artifact, and demonstrating it through mock-ups. The design and development process is informed by qualitative data gathered through observation and interviews. The data is analyzed to gain knowledge about the context and users. The analysis resulted in nine dimensions of context, a player persona, and emerging knowledge. All these factors inform the design of the artifact, which provides recommendations for how gamification should be designed for MES. The main result of the research is the method artifact, which consists of actionable guidelines that companies can use to guide their future implementation of a gamified MES. Six design principles summarize the guidelines. The research yielded design principles for feedback on work, competence development, among others. Eleven wireframe mock-ups demonstrate the design principles and illustrate which gamification elements are appropriate for use in a gamified MES. The research only considers the employee's perspective and does not consider the business needs necessary for further implementation of a gamified MES. Therefore, future research should focus on aligning business needs with identified user needs, evaluating the artifact further, and implementing a gamified MES based on the artifact. Additionally, research should explore how the wider organization, including management, could benefit from a gamified MES. Another area for future research is the integration of a gamified MES with other systems, such as ERP, CRM, HR, or quality assurance systems, to improve feedback.Pelillistäminen eli pelielementtien tai pelimäisten kokemusten lisääminen voi tehdä manuaalisista työtehtävistä mielenkiintoisempia. Pelillistäminen on kasvava tutkimusalue, jota hyödynnetään erityisesti koulutuksessa ja liiketoimintakäytössä. Tässä pro gradu -tutkielma käsittelee pelillistämisen soveltamista MES-tuotannonohjausjärjestelmiin tutkimuskysymyksellä “Miten pelillistetty MES-järjestelmä pitäisi suunnitella?” Tutkimuksen toimeksiantajana on valmistusteollisuuden alalla toimiva yritys yhteistyössä alan kansainvälisen yrityksen kanssa. Tutkimus on osa heidän Teollisuus 5.0 -hankettaan. Tutkimus koostuu kirjallisuuskatsauksesta, jossa analysoidaan pelillistämistä ja sen sovelluksia vastaavissa tuotantoympäristöissä sekä suunnittelutieteellisen metodin mukaisesta tutkimuksesta. Työssä esitellään pelillistämisen käytäntöjä, menetelmiä, suosituksia sekä kontekstikohtaista tietoa. Suunnittelu- ja kehittämisprosessin perustana on kirjallisuuskatsauksen lisäksi tutkimusaineisto, joka kerättiin haastatteluilla ja havainnoinnin avulla. Tutkimusaineistosta tunnistettiin tietoa kontekstista ja käyttäjistä. Tutkimuksen päätuloksena on metodiartefakti, joka koostuu suosituksista, joita yritykset voivat käyttää ohjaamaan pelillistetyn MES-järjestelmän käyttöönottoa tulevaisuudessa. Suositukset muodostavat kuusi suunnitteluperiaatetta muun muassa palautteenantoon työhön ja osaamisen kehittämiseen liittyen. Yksitoista käyttöliittymäluonnosta havainnollistavat suunnitteluperiaatteita ja kuvittavat, mitkä pelillistämisen elementit soveltuvat käytettäväksi pelillistetyssä MES-järjestelmässä. Tutkimuksessa huomioidaan vain työntekijän näkökulma eikä liiketoiminnallisia tarpeita, jotka ovat välttämättömiä pelillistetyn MES-järjestelmän toteuttamiseksi. Siksi jatkotutkimuksessa tulisi keskittyä liiketoiminnan tarpeiden ja tunnistettujen käyttäjien tarpeiden yhteensovittamiseen, artefaktin tarkempaan arviointiin ja artefaktiin perustuvan pelillistetyn MES-järjestelmän toteuttamiseen. Lisäksi tulevaisuudessa voitaisiin tutkia, miten organisaatiossa voitaisiin hyötyä laajemmin pelillistetystä MES-järjestelmästä. Toinen tulevaisuuden tutkimusalue voisi olla pelillistetyn MES-järjestelmän integrointi muihin järjestelmiin, kuten ERP-, CRM-, HR- tai laadunvarmistusjärjestelmiin, palautteen parantamiseksi