Aspectos motivacionais no design de tecnologia para mudanças sociais

Orientador: Maria Cecília Calani BaranauskasTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: Conectando pessoas e presente em todos os aspectos da vida, quando projetadas para este fim, as tecnologias têm potencial de influenciar a forma com que pessoas em um grupo social percebem e se relacionam com as coisas no ambiente. Este estudo de doutorado em Interação Humano-Computador (IHC) investiga como elementos motivacionais da Psicologia podem ser aplicados para informar o design, explo- rando esse potencial da tecnologia em promover mudanças sociais. O estudo é instanciado no domínio de consumo de energia elétrica, lidando com o desafio contemporâneo de cons- cientizar a sociedade dos limites naturais do planeta no que diz respeito ao uso de recursos naturais. Informar o design com aspectos motivacionais é uma abordagem recente em IHC. Quando encontrada na literatura, comumente tem foco em aspectos individuais e intrín- secos da motivação. Contudo, como argumentado nessa pesquisa, o contexto sociocultural evidencia a importância de considerar também os fatores externos que motivam as pessoas a se engajarem com uma tecnologia e com uma determinada questão social. Por considerar tanto fontes intrínsecas quanto extrínsecas de motivação, a Teoria da Autodeterminação é então considerada o principal referencial teórico da Psicologia nessa investigação, e a Semiótica Organizacional é a base metodológica para analisar os elemen- tos socioculturais que influenciam a motivação extrínseca. A análise situada dos dados socioculturais por uma perspectiva motivacional levou ao design da Tecnologia Socialmente Informada para Eco-Feedback de Energia (sigla SEET, em inglês), uma arquitetura que tem por objetivo estabelecer um novo padrão de com- portamento, ou uma nova maneira de perceber o consumo de energia coletivamente. O SEET é composto por um sistema interativo que promove colaboração, e pela Árvore da Energia, um dispositivo de feedback tangível para locais onde há encontro de pessoas. O SEET é avaliado em dois cenários complementares: uma Escola de Ensino Funda- mental no Brasil, onde os dados socioculturais foram coletados, analisados e aplicados para informar o design; e no contexto de um departamento de uma universidade no Reino Unido. Aspectos motivacionais da arquitetura do SEET são então analisadas, assim como o impacto dessa tecnologia ao desencadear as esperadas mudanças sociaisAbstract: By connecting people and being present in almost all aspects of life, when properly de- signed for that, technology can potentially influence the way people in a social group perceive and relate with things in their environment. This PhD study in the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field investigates how motivational elements from Psychology can be applied to inform the design aiming at exploring this potential of technology for promoting a social change. The study is in- stantiated in the energy consumption domain, coping with the contemporary challenge of raising awareness among the society of the planet¿s natural resources usage and limits. Informing the design with motivational aspects is a recent approach in HCI. When found in literature, it is mostly focused on individual and intrinsic aspects of motivation. However, as argued in this research, the sociocultural context evidences the importance of considering also the external factors that motivate people to be engaged with technology and the social issue. By taking into account both intrinsic and extrinsic sources of motivation, the Self- Determination Theory is then considered the main theoretical background from Psychol- ogy in this investigation, and the Organisational Semiotics the methodological basis to analyse sociocultural elements that influence extrinsic motivation. The situated analysis of sociocultural data with motivational lenses has led to the de- sign of a Socially-informed Energy Eco-feedback Technology (SEET), an architecture that aims at establishing a "new pattern of behaviour", or a new way of perceiving collective energy consumption. The SEET is composed by an interactive system that promotes collaboration and The Energy Tree, a tangible and public feedback device for gathering places. The SEET is evaluated in two complementary scenarios: an elementary school in Brazil, where the sociocultural data was collected, analysed and applied to inform design; and in the context of an university department in the United Kingdom. Motivational as- pects of the SEET architecture are then analysed, as well as the impact of this technology to trigger the desired social changeDoutoradoCiência da ComputaçãoDoutora em Ciência da Computaçã

WEB-BASED DISTANCE LEARNING PROGRAMMES: AN EXPLORATORY INVESTIGATION OF ITS CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Organizations have been making in the last years heavy investments in Web-based distance learning initiatives. Despite the many uncertainties that this involves, part of the teaching and learning processes are moving towards the Internet. These uncertainties bring about difficulties for managers, who face the challenge of keeping the focus on essential and relevant aspects that will assure programmes success. However, what would these factors be? This article aims at answering this question by identifying the critical success factors of Web-based distance learning programmes. With this objective, nine semi-structured interviews with experts were held and two case studies were carried out. Results point to the existence of five critical success factors, namely (1) the experience and background of the program teams, (2) the students’ characteristics and behavior, (3) the learning model, (4) the technology and (5) the establishment of strategic alliances

Student expectations of future life roles

Work and family are the two most significant life domains for most individuals (Greenhaus, Collins & Shaw, 2003). Compositional and structural changes in the work and family domains over the past few decades such as: dual-earner couples and single working parents, the decline of traditional gender roles and a movement toward egalitarian family structures have rendered increased understanding and reconciliation of family and working life (Steil, 2007). Such work- family considerations, however, are not only important for adults within the workforce, but also for young adults who are in the process of making future family and career decisions, and are about to enter the workforce (Westring & Ryan, 2011). The purpose of this study was to explore how students understand and distinguish between different life roles, and therefore gain insight into the expectations they have of their future life roles. Using Kelly's Repertory Grids Technique, qualitative data was obtained through fifteen interviews with postgraduate students from the University of Cape Town. The data was analysed using a combination of thematic analysis and frequency counts. The reliability of the results was ensured by conducting two sets of reliability checks. Following thematic analysis, eight dyadic themes emerged: self-interest- selflessness, demanding- relaxing, collaborationindependence, freedom-restriction, affective- unaffective, boring- enjoyment, structuredflexible, and personal satisfaction- obligation. These themes revealed values and attributes students perceive as significant in the construal of their future life roles. The results were interpreted and discussed in light of existing research and literature in the field

The Challenges of Strategic HRM in the Thai Higher Education Sector

The central aim of this research is to investigate the extent to which SHRM policies and practices are present in the Thai higher education system. This research will utilise a qualitative research methodology and a case study approach. The expected research outcomes include: 1) understanding how HRM practices are developed and implemented, 2) assessing the link between HRM programmes and the HR challenges facing Thai universities, 3) making recommendations regarding HR programme design and implementation

Emotion and Proactivity at Work

"EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Individuals’ behaviours at work are known to be shaped by cold, or cognitive-motivational, processes as well as hot, or affect-motivational, processes. To date, employee proactivity research has mainly focused on the ‘cold’ side. But emotion has been proposed to ‘energize’ employees’ proactivity, especially in interdependent and uncertain work environments. In this pioneering work, expert scholars offer new thinking on the process by examining how emotion can drive employees’ proactivity in the workplace and how, in turn, that proactivity can shape one’s emotional experiences.

Do Tight Deadlines and Dirty Diapers Fuel or Fizzle the Next Big Thing? The Differential Effect of Work and Non-Work Stressors on Employee Creativity

As our society has transitioned from an economy built on production to one built on knowledge, employee creativity has become necessary for organizations seeking to gain and maintain profits. Therefore, the focus of this dissertation was to investigate how an employee’s social environment, specifically stressors from their work and non-work roles, impacts their ability to generate new ideas at work. Two independent studies were conducted. Within Study 1, the challenge-hindrance framework was integrated with the componential model of creativity (Amabile, 1983) to determine how individual factors interacted with work and non-work stressors. Although main effects were present, moderation was not found. Intrinsic motivation was found to partially mediate the relationship between challenge work stressors and creativity. In Study 2, work and non-work stressors were proposed as direct predictors of creativity in order to investigate work-family conflict and work-family enrichment as additional mechanisms that drive the relationship. Results indicated that work-related stressors positively relate to idea generation, whereas non-work stressors did not have a direct effect on creativity. However, work-to-family enrichment positively influenced creativity, indicating that non-work variables may be indirectly related and thus, additional third variables should be considered. Overall, the present dissertation bridges the gap between the creativity and work-family literatures, while providing additional insight to organizational leaders regarding the effect of work and non-work stress on employee creativity