Mechanisms Underlying Social Loafing in Technology Teams: An Empirical Analysis

Prior research has identified team size and dispersion as important antecedents of social loafing in technology-enabled teams. However, the underlying mechanisms through which team size and team dispersion cause individuals to engage in social loafing is significantly understudied and needs to be researched. To address this exigency, we use Bandura’s Theory of Moral Disengagement to explain why individuals under conditions of increasing team size and dispersion engage in social loafing behavior. We identify three mechanisms—advantageous comparison, displacement of responsibility and moral justification —that mediate the relationship between team size, dispersion and social loafing. Herein, we present the theory development and arguments for our hypotheses. We also present the initial findings from this study. Implications of the expected research findings are also discussed

E-profiles, Conflict, and Shared Understanding in Distributed Teams

In this research, we examine the efficacy of a technological intervention in shaping distributed team members’ perceptions about their teammates. We argue that, by exposing distributed team members to electronic profiles (e-profiles) with information emphasizing their personal similarities with one another, distributed teams should experience lower levels of relational and task conflict. In turn, reductions in conflict should facilitate a shared understanding among team members, which should increase their team effectiveness. The results of a laboratory experiment of 46 distributed teams generally support these assertions. Specifically, we found that a simple, technological intervention can reduce task conflict in distributed teams, which, in turn, improves shared understanding and team effectiveness. We also uncovered important differences in the antecedents and impacts of relational and task conflict. Although we found that the e-profile intervention was effective in accounting for variance in task conflict (R2 = .41), it was quite poor in accounting for variance in relational conflict (R2 = .04). The model accounts for 33% and 43% of the variance in shared understanding and team effectiveness, respectively. Taken together, the results of this research suggest that the information shared about team members in distributed team settings has important implications for their ability to collaborate, achieve a common understanding of their work, and accomplish their task effectively. We suggest that e-profiles may be a useful intervention for management to enhance effectiveness in distributed teams

We All Know How, Don’t We? On the Role of Scrum in IT-Offshoring

Part 2: Creating Value through Software DevelopmentInternational audienceOffshoring in the IT-industry involves dual interactions between a mother company and an external supplier, often viewed with an implicit perspective from the mother company. This article review general off shoring and IT offshoring literature, focusing on the proliferation of a globally available set of routines; Scrum and Agile. Two cases are studied; a small company and short process and a large mother company with a long process. The interactions of the set ups shows that global concepts like Scrum and Agile are far from a common platform. The “well known” concepts are locally shaped and the enterprises have mixed experiences

Crowdsourcing Controls: A Review and Research Agenda for Crowdsourcing Controls Used for Macro-tasks

Crowdsourcing—the employment of ad hoc online labor to perform various tasks—has become a popular outsourcing vehicle. Our current approach to crowdsourcing—focusing on micro-tasks—fails to leverage the potential of crowds to tackle more complex problems. To leverage crowds to tackle more complex macro tasks requires a better comprehension of crowdsourcing controls. Crowdsourcing controls are mechanisms used to align crowd workers’ actions with predefined standards to achieve a set of goals and objectives. Unfortunately, we know very little about the topic of crowdsourcing controls directed at accomplishing complex macro tasks. To address issues associated with crowdsourcing controls formacro-tasks, this chapter has several objectives. First, it presents and discusses the literature on control theory. Second, this chapter presents a scoping literature review of crowdsourcing controls. Finally, the chapter identifies gaps and puts forth a research agenda to address these shortcomings. The research agenda focuses on understanding how to employ the controls needed to perform macro-tasking in crowds and the implications for crowdsourcing system designers.National Science Foundation grant CHS-1617820Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150493/1/Robert 2019 Preprint Chapter 3.pdfDescription of Robert 2019 Preprint Chapter 3.pdf : PrePrint Versio

The SARAO MeerKAT 1.3 GHz Galactic Plane Survey

We present the SARAO MeerKAT Galactic Plane Survey (SMGPS), a 1.3 GHz continuum survey of almost half of the Galactic Plane (251○ ≤l ≤ 358○ and 2○ ≤l ≤ 61○ at |b| ≤ 1 5). SMGPS is the largest, most sensitive and highest angular resolution 1 GHz survey of the Plane yet carried out, with an angular resolution of 8″ and a broadband RMS sensitivity of ∼10–20 μJy beam−1. Here we describe the first publicly available data release from SMGPS which comprises data cubes of frequency-resolved images over 908–1656 MHz, power law fits to the images, and broadband zeroth moment integrated intensity images. A thorough assessment of the data quality and guidance for future usage of the data products are given. Finally, we discuss the tremendous potential of SMGPS by showcasing highlights of the Galactic and extragalactic science that it permits. These highlights include the discovery of a new population of non-thermal radio filaments; identification of new candidate supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebulae and planetary nebulae; improved radio/mid-IR classification of rare Luminous Blue Variables and discovery of associated extended radio nebulae; new radio stars identified by Bayesian cross-matching techniques; the realisation that many of the largest radio-quiet WISE H II region candidates are not true H II regions; and a large sample of previously undiscovered background H I galaxies in the Zone of Avoidance

Justifying value, valuing justice : pay and strikes on the Rustenburg Platinum Belt, 2012 to 2014

Abstract: This study is an investigation into what constitutes appropriate wages for underground mineworkers in the Lonmin, Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) and Impala mines, in the Rustenburg platinum belt in South Africa. Perspectives taken into consideration in answering the research question are those of mineworkers themselves, trade union organisations and the mining houses, as they are the main stakeholders in the employment relationship. The research was conducted against the backdrop of the 2012-2014 strike waves in the platinum mining sector. In the process of what Chinguno (2015) refers to as the “unmaking and remaking of institutionalised industrial relations”, as well as Sinwell and Mbatha’s (2016) illustration of the rise of “insurgent trade unionism”, worker’s agency is seen at the forefront of challenging hegemonic industrial relations at the mines. A Marxist class analysis is adopted as the theoretical lens through which relations between mineworkers, trade unions and employers are analysed. This theoretical framework is useful in unpacking the inherently conflicting perspectives of the stakeholders on the topic of mineworkers’ wages, as each of the parties has their own interests – which differ or are in conflict with the other. Primary data was generated through semi-structured interviews between 2013 and 2015 with mineworkers and trade union officials, as well as document analysis. The main finding from the study is that the impetus of the 2012–2014 strike waves are beyond wage demands, and rather were driven by an overarching demand for justice. The explicit monetary demands of R9000 at Impala, R12500 at Lonmin and R16070 at Amplats, - as well as the uniform R12500 AMCU demand in 2014 - are therefore to be seen as signifiers of justice, as workers articulate their demands not only based on their use value, but also their compensatory value. The pay demands are therefore the means through which workers put forth their demands for justice concerning the nature of their work, as well as symbolic justice for their comrades slain during the Marikana massacre in 2012.M.A. (Industrial Sociology

To Assert or Defend My Role as an OSS Developer: How IT Infrastructure Access Changes the Effect of Digital Platform Behavior on Firm Mobility

Increasingly firms seek and employ open source software (OSS) developers using digital platforms (e.g., LinkedIn and GitHub). OSS developers display their skills in a variety of ways on these platforms to attract firms. However, it remains unclear whether all OSS developer behaviors influence an OSS developer’s firm mobility in the same way. This work takes an impression formation lens to understand how OSS developer behaviors enacted in digital platforms lead to firm mobility. Furthermore, we consider how an OSS developer’s access to IT infrastructure may alter these relationships. We propose an archival data study to better understand these relationships. Implications of this study exist for the impression formation theoretical lens, OSS developers, firms that employ them, and the digital platforms that connect the two parties