PROCESS SUPPORT FOR THE OPTION GENERATION PHASE IN WIN-WIN NEGOTIATIONS: COMPARISON OF THREE COMMUNICATION MODES

Analytically oriented Negotiation Support Systems have been studied and developed for decades, but they have not become widely adopted by negotiation practitioners. Along with the phenomenal growth of e-commerce, a need has arisen for information systems that support the parties’ “soft” negotiation processes and communications in addition to the “hard” quest for a mathematically optimal solution. In this study, we report an experiment about applying three different communication modes in integrative win-win negotiations following the principled negotiation tactics. We focus on integrative negotiation’s dialoguing phase where the parties share information, brainstorm options together, and establish an appropriate atmosphere. We compare computer-supported same-time same-place negotiations aided by group support systems (GSS) - either anonymously or non-anonymously - with the control treatment group that uses verbal communication backed up with flipcharts and Post-it notes. Due to the recent social media revolution, the role of anonymity might have changed from the GSS research results obtained decades ago. Our goal is to find out possible differences in the negotiation outcomes: meeting satisfaction and productivity. We discovered that all three modes worked well when used together with a carefully structured and facilitated process, although the number of unique ideas generated was significantly higher in the computer-supported groups

Applying Affordances Scale as a Design Method – Case Virtual Reality Course Design

Practitioners including designers and teachers developing Virtual Reality (VR) courses are facing a question regarding the strengths and subject areas in which VR-enriched courses might have the highest potential compared to conventional courses. The present study develops a survey scale to assess and match industry managers’ requirements for skills for working life. The same scale was surveyed among two different groups of higher education students participating in conventional courses and a VR-aided course. The results indicate that the industry requirements were higher than met by the both course types. However, the results highlight a set of skills for which the VR courses have the highest potential compared to conventional courses. These skills include self-monitoring, independent thinking and understanding, adapting and applying new ideas into practice as well as creativity as a latent class theme. The paper discusses example designs based on these skills whose development is suggested to be included in the future VR course designs.Practitioners including designers and teachers developing Virtual Reality (VR) courses are facing a question regarding the strengths and subject areas in which VR-enriched courses might have the highest potential compared to conventional courses. The present study develops a survey scale to assess and match industry managers’ requirements for skills for working life. The same scale was surveyed among two different groups of higher education students participating in conventional courses and a VR-aided course. The results indicate that the industry requirements were higher than met by the both course types. However, the results highlight a set of skills for which the VR courses have the highest potential compared to conventional courses. These skills include self-monitoring, independent thinking and understanding, adapting and applying new ideas into practice as well as creativity as a latent class theme. The paper discusses example designs based on these skills whose development is suggested to be included in the future VR course designs.Peer reviewe

Ethnic Scientific Communities and International Technology Diffusion

This study explores the importance of knowledge transfer for international technology diffusion by examining ethnic scientific and entrepreneurial communities in the US and their ties to their home countries. US ethnic research communities are quantified by applying an ethnic-name database to individual patent records. International patent citations con.rm knowledge diffuses through ethnic networks, and manufacturing output in foreign countries increases with an elasticity of 0.1-0.3 to stronger scientific integration with the US frontier. To address reverse-causality concerns, reduced-form specifications exploit exogenous changes in US immigration quotas. Consistent with a model of sector reallocation, output growth in less developed economies is facilitated by employment gains, while more advanced economies experience sharper increases in labor productivity. The ethnic transfer mechanism is especially strong in high-tech industries and among Chinese economies. The findings suggest channels for transferring codified and tacit knowledge partly shape the effective technology frontiers of developing and emerging economies.Technology Transfer, Tacit Knowledge, Productivity, Patents, Innovation, Research and Development, Entrepreneurship, Immigration, Networks.

Patent Data for Engineering Design: A Critical Review and Future Directions

Patent data have long been used for engineering design research because of its large and expanding size, and widely varying massive amount of design information contained in patents. Recent advances in artificial intelligence and data science present unprecedented opportunities to develop data-driven design methods and tools, as well as advance design science, using the patent database. Herein, we survey and categorize the patent-for-design literature based on its contributions to design theories, methods, tools, and strategies, as well as the types of patent data and data-driven methods used in respective studies. Our review highlights promising future research directions in patent data-driven design research and practice.Comment: Accepted by JCIS

Impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on construction projects

The changing face of construction projects has resulted in a movement towards the use of technology as a primary means of communication. The consequences of this rise in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) is a loss of interpersonal communication skills. A number of resulting issues within the human – electronic and human – human interfaces are identified in an attempt to define the efficiency of communication in projects. The research shows how ICT effects the social environment of construction project teams and the project outcome. The study seeks to confirm the need for further work in order to develop new forms of communication protocols and behaviour. An initial literature review was undertaken to develop a theoretical review of the impacts of ICT on construction project teams. This review identified a number of issues that were then tested in the field through an observation and two verification interviews. The research confirms the existence of tensions and conflicts in the human – electronic and human - human communication interfaces within the studies environment. It is proposed that the increasing use of ICT occur at the expense of soft system communication. The principal impact of this is a form of ‘human distraction’ which adversely affects the performance of project teams. There is limited theory exploring these issues that suggests the problems identified are not well understood and consequently indicates a gap in knowledge

Tools for Inventing Organizations: Toward a Handbook of Organizational Processes

This paper reports on the first five years of work in a project to address these problems by (1) developing methodologies and software tools for representing and codifying organizational processes at varying levels of abstraction, and (2) collecting, organizing, and analyzing numerous examples of how different groups and companies perform similar functions. The result of this work is an on-line process handbook which can be used to help people: (1) redesign existing business processes, (2) invent new processes (especially those that take advantage of information technology), and (3) organize and share knowledge about organizational practices. We also expect this process handbook to be useful in automatically (or semiautomatically) generating software to support or analyze business processes, but that is not the focus of this paper (see Dellarocas 1996, 1997a, 1997b)

Digital sculpture : technical and aesthetic considerations applicable to current input and output modes of additive fabricated sculpture

Published ArticleThis article examines the synergy between aesthetic and technical issues surrounding current input and output modes applicable to digital sculpture built by means of additive fabrication technologies. The scope is limited to select sculptural aspects that either transcend, question or fall short when measured against traditional manufacturing and aesthetic modes. Presented are a range of technical as well as aesthetic aspects that have impacted on this ''new form'' of sculpture delivery. It is indicated that irrespective of current strengths and weaknesses, for the evolving sculptor, an interactive creative partnership between technologies equally positions this ''new form'' of sculpture delivery as a leading role player towards defining a new digital aesthetic