Creativity in organizations: Antecedents and outcomes of individual creativity

In this dissertation I set out to expand our collective understanding of creativity in organizations. I accomplish this through three related studies, each organized into independent chapters of this dissertation. The first study explores how demands of organizations, particularly strategic contradictions faced by decision makers, affect creative processes and products. In this chapter I develop the theory of paradoxical creativity, which posits that creative discovery is a function of how strategic contradictions are perceived by decision-makers. The key insight of the theory of paradoxical creativity is that strategic contradictions have independent effects on the two stages of creative discovery (generation and evaluation of ideas) and that a strategic contradiction will result in creativity, as opposed to inertia, when these two cognitive indicators are balanced. This study adds to existing scholarship by describing potential individual differences in how strategic contradictions are perceived and how they can be managed for performance. While the first study explored the antecedents of creativity, the second explores creativity as the antecedent condition. In this study I look at how creativity affects the decision to act on innovative breakthroughs. The central argument of this study is that incremental creativity is more likely to result in innovative breakthroughs than is radical creativity and that more successful innovators are more likely to engage in incremental, rather than radical, creativity. Incremental creativity is more amendable to management, because its outcomes are more predictable. Resultantly, decision-makers are more likely to act on incremental ideas. Because incremental ideas survive transfer to the workplace, they provide an opportunity for creative elaboration. Elaboration feeds the earlier stages of idea generation by helping the innovator refine the idea and can result in better understanding of idea usefulness, new generation, more incubation, and further elaboration. This process creates a virtuous cycle that can result in breakthrough innovation and is more amenable to strategic management in conditions with limited resources and competition. The third study explores creativity as the mediating variable. This study relies on crowdfunding data collected from the Kickstarter.com platform to test whether a sustainability orientation affects funding success of online projects and whether this relationship is moderated by creativity. Findings suggests that a hybrid approach, one combining a sustainability and profitability orientation, will result in higher product creativity and as such result in more funding for the new venture

A History of Yugoslavia

Why did Yugoslavia fall apart? Was its violent demise inevitable? Did its population simply fall victim to the lure of nationalism? How did this multinational state survive for so long, and where do we situate the short life of Yugoslavia in the long history of Europe in the twentieth century? A History of Yugoslavia provides a concise, accessible, comprehensive synthesis of the political, cultural, social, and economic life of Yugoslavia—from its nineteenth-century South Slavic origins to the bloody demise of the multinational state of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Calic takes a fresh and innovative look at the colorful, multifaceted, and complex history of Yugoslavia, emphasizing major social, economic, and intellectual changes from the turn of the twentieth century and the transition to modern industrialized mass society. She traces the origins of ethnic, religious, and cultural divisions, applying the latest social science approaches, and drawing on the breadth of recent state-of-the-art literature, to present a balanced interpretation of events that takes into account the differing perceptions and interests of the actors involved. Uniquely, Calic frames the history of Yugoslavia for readers as an essentially open-ended process, undertaken from a variety of different regional perspectives with varied composite agenda. She shuns traditional, deterministic explanations that notorious Balkan hatreds or any other kind of exceptionalism are to blame for Yugoslavia’s demise, and along the way she highlights the agency of twentieth-century modern mass society in the politicization of differences. While analyzing nuanced political and social-economic processes, Calic describes the experiences and emotions of ordinary people in a vivid way. As a result, her groundbreaking work provides scholars and learned readers alike with an accessible, trenchant, and authoritative introduction to Yugoslavia\u27s complex history.https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/purduepress_previews/1023/thumbnail.jp

History of Yugoslavia

Why did Yugoslavia fall apart? Was its violent demise inevitable? Did its population simply fall victim to the lure of nationalism? How did this multinational state survive for so long, and where do we situate the short life of Yugoslavia in the long history of Europe in the twentieth century? The Complete History of Yugoslavia by Marie-Janine Calic provides a concise, accessible, comprehensive synthesis of the political, cultural, social, and economic life of Yugoslavia—from its nineteenth-century South Slavic origins to the bloody demise of the multinational state of Yugoslavia in the 1990s

Self-Disclosure on Facebook: Comparing two Research Organisations

This study investigated whether there is a difference in self-disclosure on Facebook between employees of an Australian government organisation and an academic institution. We employed quantitative and qualitative approaches, including an online questionnaire of 216 participants and ten interviews. The two organisations were compared on organisational variables, and measures of Privacy Concerns, Privacy Behaviour and Propensity to Trust as potential predictors of self-disclosure. Privacy Behaviour and Propensity to Trust were significant predictors for the government organisation, whereas demographic and organisational factors were the main predictors for the academic institution. Furthermore, qualitative findings revealed that, whilst the government participants focussed on the costs of self-disclosure on Facebook, the academic institution participants focussed on the benefits of self-disclosure. These results provide preliminary support for our online self-disclosure model, and highlight the importance of considering different organisations and populations in studies of online self-disclosure and privacy

Environmental impact quantification and correlation between site location and contents and structure of Tansy

The aim of this work was to quantify the most significant impact from the polluted environment and to review the correlation between pollution indicators and the content and structures of Tanacetum vulgare L. (Tansy). Heavy metals as mercury, lead, cadmium, chromium and nickel are considered as pollution indicators. The micro and macro elements concentration of S, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, Fe, Si, Al and Mn were tested too. The concentration of the essential oil was analyzed as indicator of Tansy environmental adaptability. Essential oils are practically agents which represents correlation between plant and environment. The type of Tansy was selected for laboratory research, because it belongs to most speeded urban flora and vegetation, in which the imperative to adapt is very strong. All those parameters was monitored on two different locations: industrial zone (anthropogenic) and park area (non anthropogenic) for comparison, as zero stage of the environment, before pollution. The diferences were also recorded in the morphological and anatomical structure and chlorophyll a and b content of the Tansy and they were caused by differences of cumulative environmental conditions, with dominant efects of the contamination degree of the location, soil type and microclimate.Key words: Anthropogenic factors, correlation, environmental impact, environmental zero stage, quantification

Environmental study of heavy metals influence on soil and Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare L.)

The aim of this work was to define the correlation between heavy metal (mercury, lead, cadmium, chrome and nickel) concentration changes (in soil, leaf, stem, root and essential oil in Tansy) and type and distance from source pollution. The concentration was monitored on different locations: 1) Chemical industry panevo (with accident situation); 2) Panevo industrial zone; 3) highway; 4) Ada Ciganlija recreation zone and 5) Topider park. Mercury (Hg) concentration was analyzed as a functionof time, starting from accident situation from 1999 to 2008. Hg had maximum concentration of 131 200 mg/kg at a soil depth of 0 - 15 cm. After three, six and nine years, linear accident Hg concentrations insoil decreased from 85 400 via 41 060 to 106.0 mg/kg. Mercury concentration which results in the location where accident occurred showed that 6 years was necessary for concentration to drop below the limits and for revitalization of standard industrial Tansy vegetation. Concentrations of Hg in the Tansy plants from contaminated site were 5, 10, 100 and 200 times greater than in industrial zone, highway, Ada Ciganlija and Topider, respectively. The highest amount of lead (Pb) was in leaves (14.1mg/kg) and in essential oil (0.7 mg/kg) of Tansy near the highway. However, Pb concentration in soil and plant was decreased with square of highway distance

Impact of genotype, age of tree and environmental temperature on androgenesis induction of Aesculus hippocastanum L.

Influence of ten different genotypes, age of trees and environmental temperature on induction of androgenesis and apperance albino horse chestnut embryos were studied. Efficiency of in vitro androgenesis via anther and microspore culture had been investigated. Microspores and anthers were used from the same closed flower bud. Androgenic response of different genotypes was measured and compared. Anther induction rates were from 5 to 37.6%, depending on genotype. The number ofembryos per isolated anther varied between 0.5 to 5.0 embryos in anther culture, while in microspore culture varied between 3.0 to 27 embryos, depending on genotype. A microspore culture was 5 - 6 times efficient than anther culture for same genotype. Age of the trees had no influence on androgenesis induction. Temperature of about 4 - 5°C was optimal for androgenic embryo induction. Albino horse chestnut embryos phenomenon depended on genotype. The number of albino appearing in anther washigher than in microspore culture. The same correlation of appearing albino was observed between short and long day. Flow cytogenetic analysis of androgenic embryos originating from anther and microspore culture was done after a first generation of regenerants. All androgenic embryos, the first generation from microspore culture were haploid, while 50% of the regenerants originating from anther culture were haploid, and the other half diploid

A diferenciação e o posicionamento mercadológico em Instituições de Ensino Superior: um estudo multicaso

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia de Produção.O objetivo deste estudo é diagnosticar o esforço atual de diferenciação e posicionamento de Instituições de Ensino Superior. As instituições escolhidas foram o Centro Universitário da Fundação Mineira de Ensino e Cultura de Belo Horizonte, Instituto de Ensino Superior de João Monlevade e a Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, campus Belo Horizonte I. Os dirigentes das instituições de ensino foram entrevistados, bem como 180 alunos dos cursos de Administração, Direito e Pedagogia, na razão de 60 por instituição, divididos entre ingressantes e concluintes. Os resultados apurados apontaram para uma certa incongruência entre as respostas dos dirigentes e de seus alunos no que diz respeito ao esforço de posicionamento e à diferenciação, ou seja, os aspectos diferenciais e passíveis de estratégias de posicionamento defendidos pelas instituições não foram percebidos pelos seus alunos. No tocante à identificação de estratégias de diferenciação e posicionamento mercadológico em face da concorrência, não foram percebidas ações pontuais por nenhuma das instituições pesquisadas. Já no item satisfação com as instituições de ensino, um dos objetivos específicos do trabalho, ocorreu sensível variação nas respostas entre os alunos ingressantes e concluintes, o mesmo aconteceu quando questionados sobre a satisfação com os cursos escolhidos. Considerando a expansão acelerada do segmento e o surgimento constante de novos atores no cenário, percebeu-se a necessidade de elaborar diferenciais e seu posterior posicionamento diante dos públicos-alvo diversos, sob pena de estagnação. Como estratégias de posicionamento a serem exploradas, foi proposto ao Instituto de Ensino Superior de João Monlevade o posicionamento por atributo, explorando o fator localização e acesso; o posicionamento por qualidade para o Centro Universitário da Fundação Mineira de Educação e Cultura; e o posicionamento misto de qualidade e tradição para a Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais. This paper aims at diagnosing the current effort for differentiating and positioning in Graduate Teaching Institutions. The institutions selected were Centro Universitário da Fundação Mineira de Ensino e Cultura de Belo Horizonte, Instituto de Ensino Superior de João Monlevade and Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, campus Belo Horizonte I. These institutions principals were interviewed, as will as 180 students from Administration, Law and Pedagogy Courses, summing up 60 per institution, from beginners to graduating students. The results show quite a incongruity between the principals' answers and their students concerning differentiation and positioning efforts, that is the differing aspects subject to positioning strategies defended by the institutions were not noticed by their students. Concerning the identification of differing strategies and market positioning towards competition, focused actions were not realized by any of the surveyed institutions. Regarding the item about teaching institution satisfaction, one of specific goals the paper, there was a noticeable variation in the beginners' answers and the graduation students' answers as well as the answers about the courses chosen by them. Considering the speedy expansion in the segment and the upcoming of new experts in the scenario, the elaboration of differential and their later positioning towards their target-public was seen as fundamentally important, otherwise stagnancy would come up. As positioning strategies to be explored, it was proposed to Instituto de Ensino Superior de João Monlevade the positioning for attribute, exploring the factors: location and access; the positioning for quality for the Centro Universitário da Fundação Mineira de Educação e Cultura and the mixing positioning for quality and tradition for Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais