Structural Stability and Virtual Team Performance

This study examines how relational instability and stability-seeking behaviors of unstable virtual teams affects teamperformance. We apply Structural Stability Theory (Heider, 1946) to understand virtual team (VT) performance. Structuralstability theory provides for quantification of relational stability within a VT by measuring the mathematical properties oflinks between nodes in a team. Lack of stability is a source of unresolved tension. Structural Stability Theory (SST) statesthat unstable relationships are motivated to seek stability. Stability can be positive or negative, where certain members of agroup are disliked by others. However, structural stability suggests the absence of turbulence within the relational dynamicsof the group; that relationships are settled - good or bad. We propose that the degree of structural stability within a groupmeasures unresolved relational tension within the group and may impact VT performance

EFFECT OF ROLE DYNAMICS ON TRANSACTIVE MEMORY SYSTEM AND TEAM PERFORMANCE IN OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE TEAMS: THE MODERATING ROLE OF COMMUNICATION

Open-source software (OSS) development is leading trends in the software market. OSS teams occupied with knowledge-intensive tasks are confronted with role-related issues. Team-level role dynamics (i.e., role ambiguity and role conflict) which manifest whether information about roles (e.g., expected responsibilities, behaviours, and outcomes) perceived by members are clarified and coherent, affect team performance. Information about roles can be considered clues for expertise recognition and location, which strengthens members’ reliable understandings about others’ knowledge and work cooperation. Namely, it may influence transactive memory system (TMS), a group work pattern based on cognitive labour division. Although prior studies have proposed that role-related constructs (e.g., role identification, and role conflict) influence team cognitions (e.g., TMS) and team performance, the relationships between role dynamics, TMS and team performance are still unclear. This study intends to explore the affective and cognitive mechanism through which role dynamics influence TMS under various boundary conditions (i.e., instrumental and expressive communication), and provides a further understanding about how to enhance team performance within the mechanism. An empirical study sampling from OSS communities like SourceForge and GitHub will be conducted to verify our hypotheses. Our research intends to offer theoretical and managerial implications about role concerns in OSS teams

The development of an interactive multimedia based professional development

The role of the teacher has changed over time such that teachers are asked to augment their own specialist knowledge with skills from other domains, for example information technology. This study has examined the perceptions and experiences of teachers and speech pathologists involved in the production of an instructive Interactive Multimedia (IMM) product to deliver Professional Development (PD). The individuals involved in this project were teachers from the High Valley Language School (HVLS) -a specialised primary school. The study used a social action research methodology, which allowed the researcher to build theories from emergent data. The data collection process consisted of observations, journals, meeting minutes, and interviews. The data was analysed primarily using a qualitative perspective. Qualitative research methods allow phenomena to be studied in greater depth. The study outlined the need to understand what factors determined the feasibility of such IMM projects, and what attributes form the baseline of skills needed to achieve success. This study also outlined existing research and development methodologies that can assist in unfamiliar project domains. The results of the study show that while the team members were not trained in informatim1 technology development, they were relatively well equipped to adapt to large tasks and the creation of Educational Interactive Multimedia. The team members displayed how the use of existing skills and problem solving techniques from their domain can be used to solve problems that crossover into the information technology domain

Model for WCET prediction, scheduling and task allocation for emergent agent-behaviours in real-time scenarios

[ES]Hasta el momento no se conocen modelos de tiempo real específicamente desarrollados para su uso en sistemas abiertos, como las Organizaciones Virtuales de Agentes (OVs). Convencionalmente, los modelos de tiempo real se aplican a sistemas cerrados donde todas las variables se conocen a priori. Esta tesis presenta nuevas contribuciones y la novedosa integración de agentes en tiempo real dentro de OVs. Hasta donde alcanza nuestro conocimiento, éste es el primer modelo específicamente diseñado para su aplicación en OVs con restricciones temporales estrictas. Esta tesis proporciona una nueva perspectiva que combina la apertura y dinamicidad necesarias en una OV con las restricciones de tiempo real. Ésto es una aspecto complicado ya que el primer paradigma no es estricto, como el propio término de sistema abierto indica, sin embargo, el segundo paradigma debe cumplir estrictas restricciones. En resumen, el modelo que se presenta permite definir las acciones que una OV debe llevar a cabo con un plazo concreto, considerando los cambios que pueden ocurrir durante la ejecución de un plan particular. Es una planificación de tiempo real en una OV. Otra de las principales contribuciones de esta tesis es un modelo para el cálculo del tiempo de ejecución en el peor caso (WCET). La propuesta es un modelo efectivo para calcular el peor escenario cuando un agente desea formar parte de una OV y para ello, debe incluir sus tareas o comportamientos dentro del sistema de tiempo real, es decir, se calcula el WCET de comportamientos emergentes en tiempo de ejecución. También se incluye una planificación local para cada nodo de ejecución basada en el algoritmo FPS y una distribución de tareas entre los nodos disponibles en el sistema. Para ambos modelos se usan modelos matemáticos y estadísticos avanzados para crear un mecanismo adaptable, robusto y eficiente para agentes inteligentes en OVs. El desconocimiento, pese al estudio realizado, de una plataforma para sistemas abiertos que soporte agentes con restricciones de tiempo real y los mecanismos necesarios para el control y la gestión de OVs, es la principal motivación para el desarrollo de la plataforma de agentes PANGEA+RT. PANGEA+RT es una innovadora plataforma multi-agente que proporciona soporte para la ejecución de agentes en ambientes de tiempo real. Finalmente, se presenta un caso de estudio donde robots heterogéneos colaboran para realizar tareas de vigilancia. El caso de estudio se ha desarrollado con la plataforma PANGEA+RT donde el modelo propuesto está integrado. Por tanto al final de la tesis, con este caso de estudio se obtienen los resultados y conclusiones que validan el modelo

Agents for educational games and simulations

This book consists mainly of revised papers that were presented at the Agents for Educational Games and Simulation (AEGS) workshop held on May 2, 2011, as part of the Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent Systems (AAMAS) conference in Taipei, Taiwan. The 12 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from various submissions. The papers are organized topical sections on middleware applications, dialogues and learning, adaption and convergence, and agent applications

UTILIZING THE TEAM EFFECTIVENESS FRAMEWORK TO EXAMINE HOW SCIENCE EDUCATION CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT GROUPS WORK TO CREATE TECHNOLOGY-INFUSED CURRICULUM

Today, school districts are challenged to create technology-infused science curricula in order to improve the education of our Twenty-first Century workforce. School districts assemble science education curriculum development groups to rise to the challenge. At times, school districts also collaborate with researchers and form groups that include researchers, classroom teachers, and school district administrators. In contrast to studies that focus on technology-infused science curriculum products and teachers' and students' use of those products, this multiple case study examined how three science education curriculum development groups worked to create technology-infused science curricula. The shift in focus on the process of how teachers and researchers collaborated to create curricula products stemmed from limited research that described tensions between teachers and researchers. I utilized the Team Effectiveness Framework, a framework previously employed by government agencies, private businesses, and military operations, to further explore how tensions emerged during the development of technology-infused science curriculum. The findings revealed that tensions occurred due to how the groups defined technology-infusion, assembled group members, assigned group roles, facilitated dual curriculum audience discussions, addressed multi-level organization norms, and built team cohesion and trust. Within each case, tensions shaped the resultant science curriculum artifacts. Thus, the study highlights ways in which technology was infused into science curriculum and how diverse expertise of team members, multi-level norm discussions, and local technology resources shaped science curricula artifacts