The Impact of IT Identity on Users’ Emotions: A Conceptual Framework in Health-Care Setting

Stimulating positive emotions in patients and alleviating their negative emotions is valuable in health care IT contexts. One form of health IT are patient-centric tools which are used directly by patients to facilitate access to their medical history, and receive feedback about their health status. The goal of this study is to understand what factors influence the arousal of emotions in patients while using these tools. Past studies tend to emphasize on how IT shapes emotions, underplaying the role of the individual user and his/her shared identity with IT in the process. In this research, we argue that patients’ IT identity (i.e., the extent to which they consider IT as integral to their sense of self) and their core self-evaluation (i.e., their sense of how capable they are in managing their disease) can play important roles in shaping users’ evaluation of IT, and eventually their emotions about IT

Me with my Client: Consultants' Relational Identity with their Clients and its Implications for their Conduct of Work

Thesis advisor: Mary Ann GlynnOrganizational research on individuals' identity focuses primarily on social identity, i.e., the self-concept they derive from their membership in a group, paying limited attention to relational identity or their self-definition in their role-relationships and its consequent implications for how individuals in these relationships get their work done. In this study, I address this gap by examining the nature of consultants' relational identity, i.e., their sense of self in their role-relationships with their clients and its implications for their conduct of work. Analysis of 50 in-depth interviews with consultants reveal that their relational identity can be understood by two dimensions: perceived sense of involvement with the relational other and perceived sense of influence over the relational other. Taken together, they explain four distinct ways in which consultants manifest their relational identity, namely: comprehensive, defined, associative, and impoverished relational identity. Further, I found that relational identity is associated with the degree of informality in the conduct of work between the two individuals in the role-relationship.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011.Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management.Discipline: Organization Studies

Impressions management: lessons from the oil industry

In the late 1990s, after over a century of extracting hydrocarbons, the petroleum industry faced a growing scientific consensus that pollution from fossil fuels is a major cause of global warming. Operationally and in terms of their global image, oil and gas companies faced a serious dilemma. Two major players, Exxon and British Petroleum, took very different approaches in their corporate communications strategies, the outcomes of which offer valuable lessons in impressions management

Green biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) FROM Vitex negundo plant extract and its phytochemical screening and antimicrobial assessment next to pathogenic microbes

In the present study, green synthesis of silver-nanoparticle (AgNPs) is demonstrated using plant extract of Vitex negundo. Plant extract through six different solvents, including petroleum ether, benzene, chloroform, acetone, methanol, and water, was prepared and further investigated for its antimicrobial and antifungal activities using different bacterial and fungal strains. The phytochemical analysis was performed, where saponins, tannins, steroids, flavonoids and glycosides were detected in acetone, chloroform and methanolic extract. Subsequent analysis of synthesized AgNPs through dynamic light scattering suggested that particle sizes were 10-300 nm in size. The study indicated that the chloroform, acetone, and methanol extracts of Vitex negundo showed good inhibitory activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis based on the zone of inhibition. The antimicrobial activity of the synthesized AgNPs suggested that it can inhibit the growth of both gram +ve and gram -ve microorganisms. The MIC value of AgNPs of methanolic extract of V. negundo detected was 0.078 mg/mL, which was relatively lower than that of the MIC value of its crude extract (1.25mg/mL). The observed MIC values concluded that the synthesized AgNPs had better antimicrobial activity and could be necessary for various applications, including medicine, biology, and industr

Food for Thought : Managing Neurodiverse Workers in a Restaurant

In 2021, Marie Jones (alias) and her team established a restaurant – Food for Thought (alias) – that employs neurodiverse employees alongside neurotypical employees. In addition to proving good quality food and service, their long-term goal was to train neurodiverse workers, who could then integrate into more “orthodox” restaurants that generally hire only neurotypical workers. In fact, the latter was the founders’ passion towards contributing to society. During the initial training and hiring of potential employees, they discussed this possibility while also trying to understand the candidates’ aspirations. In 2023, they were taking stock of the situation – the restaurant was running well but they were also considering a bigger question – were they ready to outplace their neurodiverse employees to other restaurants and hire and train new neurodiverse employees? The case sheds light on the steps that organisations can take for hiring, training and integrating neurodiverse employees and how certain organizational processes could be adapted to suit their needs. It also analyses an ethical dilemma for a responsible organisation and how it can balance the goals of efficiency and their vision of doing good for society at large

Planned Organizational Identity Change : Insights from Practice

International audienc

Comparative evaluation of Inflammatory cells and Interleukins in Irritable Bowel Syndrome subtypes

Background: Irritable Bowel syndrome is a  gastrointestinal  disorder with a high prevalence but its etiopathogenesis is not very clear. In recent years role of immunogenic activation as one of the  causative factors  has gained acceptance. This study was undertaken to analyse the difference between patients presenting predominantly with diarrhoea [IBS-D] and those with predominant constipation [IBS-C] with respect to immune cells [CD3 , CD8 Intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) and Mast cells] and the  cytokine profile assay as well as to assess the correlation between  the  immune cells and the cytokine levels.Methods: Fifty one clinically diagnosed IBS patients and twenty three healthy controls were included. IBS patients were further subgrouped into IBS-D and IBS-C based on predominant stool pattern. Biopsies from descending colon were taken after detailed clinical history and thorough full length colonoscopy.  IHC for CD3, CD8 IELs and Mast cells was done and counts were given. Simultaneously Interleukins levels were assayed by ELISA. Results:Mean (SD) values of both CD 3 and CD8 +ve IELs  and Mast cell counts were higher  in IBS-D  subgroup  compared to  IBS-C subgroup. However the difference between  these two groups  was found to be  statistically significant for mast cells only.Level of IL-2, IL-6 and IL-8 were significantly high   in  both IBS- D and IBS C subgroups as compared to controls. On comparing  the two subgroups,  only IL8 showed a significant difference between the two.  The increase in mast cells correlated positively with CD3 lymphocytes and IL-8. Conclusion: Inflammation has a significant role  in the causation of IBS along with psychological disorders. We also advocate different treatment strategies for IBS-D and IBS-C patients as they show different levels of expression of immune cells and  inflammatory cytokine

Organizational identification during a merger: the role of self-enhancement and uncertainty reduction motives

Past research focuses predominantly on self-enhancement as a motive underlying organizational identification even though there have been several calls for examining multiple motives of identification. Our research explores the interplay of the self-enhancement and the uncertainty reduction motives in shaping identification during a major organizational change: a merger of a business unit with its parent corporation. Based on analysis of survey responses collected from 751 employees of the merging business unit, we find that the self-enhancement motive, measured via attractiveness of perceived organizational identity and perceived external prestige, continues to influence identification during this merger. However, its effects are diminished when considering the effect of the uncertainty reduction motive. In particular, in addition to affecting identification directly, this latter motive, measured via agreement with projected identity of the business unit and identification with a distal target (i.e., the parent corporation), decreases the effect of perceived external prestige on business unit identification. Our research answers longstanding calls for understanding organizational identification motives beyond self-enhancement, and shows how multiple identification motives work during a major organizational change: a time when identification is strongly needed, yet hard to garner

Managing Impressions in the Face of Rising Stakeholder Pressures: Examining Oil Companies' Shifting Stances in the Climate Change Debate

International audienceIn this paper, we examine how organizations’ impression management (IM) evolves in response to rising stakeholder pressures regarding organizations’ corporate responsibility initiatives. We conducted a comparative case study analysis over a period of 13 years (1997–2009) for two organizations—Exxon and BP—that took extreme (but different) initial stances on climate change. We found that as stakeholder pressures rose, their IM tactics unfolded in four phases: (i) advocating the initial stance, (ii) sensegiving to clarify the initial stance, (iii) image repairing, and (iv) adjusting the stance. Taken together, our analysis of IM over these four phases provides three key insights about the evolution of IM in the face of rising pressures. First, when faced with stakeholder pressures, it seems that organizations do not immediately resort to conforming but tend to give in gradually when pressures increase and start to come from relatively powerful stakeholders. Second, evolution of IM seems to be characterized by path dependence, i.e., even as organizations’ positions evolve, they continue to show their conviction in their initial positions and try to convey that their subsequent positions flow logically from the previous ones. Finally, IM involves navigation between symbolism and substance, and companies tend to strive toward harmonizing their symbolic and substantive actions as stakeholder pressure increases