The Effects of Pairing Participants in Facilitated Group Support Systems Sessions

Group Support Systems (GSS) have been used to support facilitated ideation sessions for years and have been studied from a number of different perspectives. Throughout this time the norm for running electronic brainstorming sessions has been for participants to work on their own workstations. A review of applicable literature suggests that pairing participants at GSS workstations could result in higher quality inputs and participant satisfaction. This proposition is examined with a lab experiment to test for differences between paired and unpaired facilitated GSS sessions. The results of the experiment suggest that pairing participants does yield higher quality ideas from facilitated ideation without negative perceptions relating to production blocking

Synergistic Ideation through Pairing Participants in Facilitated Group Support Systems Sessions

Group Support Systems (GSS) have been used and studied in the support of facilitated ideation sessions for years. The norm for these sessions has been for participants to work individually at GSS workstations. A review of applicable literature suggests that pairing participants at GSS workstations could result in higher quality ideas and participant satisfaction. This paper reports the results of a lab experiment that tested for differences between paired and unpaired facilitated GSS sessions. These results suggest that pairing participants can yield higher quality ideas from facilitated ideation without negative consequences

A Design Science Based Evaluation Framework for Patterns

Patterns were originally developed in the field of architecture as a mechanism for communicating good solutions to recurring classes of problems. Since then, many researchers and practitioners have created patterns to describe effective solutions to problems associated with disparate areas such as virtual project management, human-computer interaction, software development and engineering, and design science research. We believe that the development of patterns is a design science activity in which an artifact (i.e., a pattern) is created to communicate about and improve upon the current state-of-practice. Design science research has two critical components, creation and evaluation of an artifact. While many patterns have been created, few, if any, have been evaluated in this sense. In this paper, we propose a framework to evaluate patterns in any domain and provide examples of how to use the evaluation framework. This process of evaluation could help researchers refine extant patterns and improve the possibility of creating sustainable best practices for a given domain. We believe this evaluation framework begins an important dialogue related to the evaluation of patterns as artifacts of design science research. We draw upon the literature associated with patterns, evaluation of design science research, and research methods to develop this framework for evaluating patterns in a more consistent and rigorous manner

Moving First Life into SecondLife: Real World Opportunities for Virtual Teams and Virtual World Project Management

Consider a world where you can: conduct training sessions and bring together experts from around the globe in a single, common environment where learning is possible; hold effective meetings in a shared space where distant resources and people can come together to communicate, laugh, and create artifacts quickly and easily; and, coordinate a project with ease and overcome cultural barriers to team effectiveness. These scenarios can be realized with virtual world (VW) technology

Activity-dependent translation dynamically alters the proteome of the perisynaptic astrocyte process

Within eukaryotic cells, translation is regulated independent of transcription, enabling nuanced, localized, and rapid responses to stimuli. Neurons respond transcriptionally and translationally to synaptic activity. Although transcriptional responses are documented in astrocytes, here we test whether astrocytes have programmed translational responses. We show that seizure activity rapidly changes the transcripts on astrocyte ribosomes, some predicted to be downstream of BDNF signaling. In acute slices, we quantify the extent to which cues of neuronal activity activate translation in astrocytes and show that this translational response requires the presence of neurons, indicating that the response is non-cell autonomous. We also show that this induction of new translation extends into the periphery of astrocytes. Finally, synaptic proteomics show that new translation is required for changes that occur in perisynaptic astrocyte protein composition after fear conditioning. Regulation of translation in astrocytes by neuronal activity suggests an additional mechanism by which astrocytes may dynamically modulate nervous system functioning

Enterprise resource planning adoption: structural equation modeling analysis of antecedents

This study identifies the key antecedent factors for accomplishing the adoption stage of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Five potential antecedent factors of adoption were derived from the literature, including that on innovation theories, and data were obtained from a sample of 217 organizations across Australia. A structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was used to examine the complex relationships between antecedents and the adoption decision. We found that there were three positive drivers of a successful outcome of the ERP adoption stage. Prior findings have shown that system quality is a key enabler for innovation adoption by individuals, and we found that system quality is also an important driver for organizational adoption of ERP. It was also indicated that organizations consider adopting ERP when the market and customer patterns are relatively stable rather than in turbulent environments.Jiwat Ram, David Corkindale and Ming-Lu Wuhttp://www.iacis.org/jcis/jcis_toc.php?volume=54&issue=

Scenario-Based Design Theorizing:The Case of a Digital Idea Screening Cockpit

As ever more companies encourage employees to innovate, a surplus of ideas has become reality in many organizations – often exceeding the available resources to execute them. Building on insights from a literature review and a 3-year collaboration with a banking software provider, the paper suggests a Digital Idea Screening Cockpit (DISC) to address this challenge. Following a design science research approach, it suggests a prescriptive design theory that provides practitioner-oriented guidance for implementing a DISC. The study shows that, in order to facilitate the assessment, selection, and tracking of ideas for different stakeholders, such a system needs to play a dual role: It needs to structure decision criteria and at the same be flexible to allow for creative expression. Moreover, the paper makes a case for scenario-based design theorizing by developing design knowledge via scenarios

Female Institutional Directors on Boards and Firm Value

The aim of this research is to examine what impact female institutional directors on boards have on corporate performance. Previous research shows that institutional female directors cannot be considered as a homogeneous group since they represent investors who may or may not maintain business relations with the companies on whose corporate boards they sit. Thus, it is not only the effect of female institutional directors as a whole on firm value that has been analysed, but also the impact of pressure-resistant female directors, who represent institutional investors (investment, pension and mutual funds) that only invest in the company, and do not maintain a business relation with the firm. We hypothesize that there is a non-linear association, specifically quadratic, between institutional and pressure-resistant female directors on boards and corporate performance. Our results report that female institutional directors on boards enhance corporate performance, but when they reach a certain threshold on boards (11.72 %), firm value decreases. In line with female institutional directors, pressure-resistant female directors on boards also increase firm value, but only up to a certain figure (12.71 % on boards), above which they have a negative impact on firm performance. These findings are consistent with an inverted U-shaped relationship between female institutional directors and pressure-resistant female directors and firm performance