Creativity at work: The role of context

Viewing creativity in context stresses the need to explore how creativity is really defined by organisational actors engaged in creative processes, whether these be related to product innovation or other types of innovation. That which in some cases might be viewed as a powerful influencing context factor, may in other instances be seen as just another company practice. Likewise, differences across organic units within the same company are probably better examined by looking at the historical and spatial pattern developed over time between individual actors and groups, as well as their unique set of contextual factors. The same reasoning can be extended to an analysis of creativity in industries and in national cultures. Only by taking into account the actors’ perspective of context, can researchers be permitted to fully comprehend the interplay between the creative person and his/her context. To summarise, this chapter has addressed creativity in context, and offered some additional thoughts that may be used by researchers to continue to investigate the socio-psychological view of creativity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

HRM strength, situation strength and improvisation behavior

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the connections between human resource (HR), situation strength and improvisation behavior. A high degree of “fit” among HR practices and between such practices and organizational strategy, is said to have an impact on organizational outcomes. How these fits are achieved is not fully understood in the literature. It has been proposed that horizontal fit is achieved when messages regarding HR matters are communicated to employees in a distinct, consensual, and consistent way. This will create a strong situation, which in turn will affect outcomes such as improvisation behavior. Situation strength is captured by the concepts of climate strength, and culture strength. Design/methodology/approach – The research was conducted at a call center of a company belonging to a Portuguese Telecommunications Group. In total, 91 questionnaires were collected. Scales in the questionnaire are based on existing indicators, but a new measure of HR strength (HRS) was also used. The data were analyzed with structural equation modeling. Findings – Results show that HRS has a direct effect on improvisation behavior. Furthermore, culture is a mediator between HRS and climate. There was also a strong indication that culture may be a mediator between HRS and improvisation behavior. Research limitations/implications – Limitations concern the sample size and the fact that research was conducted in a call center. Implications for research include the need to introduce leadership into this type of studies, as well as model and scales validation. Originality/value – The current research advances knowledge in the area in three ways. First, it presents a new instrument to measure HRS. Second, it introduces improvisation as an outcome of HR. And third, it tests a full model that links HR to social common structures (climate and culture) and performance outcomes (improvisation behavior in this work).El Propósito – El propósito de este estudio es explorar las conexiones entre recursos humanos, la fuerza de la situación y el comportamiento de la improvisación. Un alto nivel de “ajuste” entre las pra´cticas de recursos humanos, y entre esas prácticas y las estrategias de organización, se dice que tiene un impacto en los resultados de la organización. Cómo se consiguen estos ajustes no es comprendido en la literatura. Se ha propuesto que el ajuste horizontal se logra cuando los mensajes en materia de los recursos humanos se comunican a los empleados de una manera distinta, consensuada y coherente. Esto creará una situación fuerte, que a la vez influirá en los resultados tales como el comportamiento de la improvisación. La fuerza de la situación es capturado por los conceptos de la fuerza del clima, y la fuerza de la cultura. La Metodología – La investigación se llevó a cabo en una atención al cliente de una empresa que pertenece a un grupo de telecomunicaciones portugués. En total, 91 cuestionarios fueron recogidos. Escalas en el cuestionario se basan en los indicadores existentes, también, se utilizó una nueva medida de fuerza de recursos humanos. Los datos fueron analizados con el modelo de ecuaciones estructurales. Los Resultados – Los resultados muestran que la fuerza de recursos humanos tiene un efecto directo sobre el comportamiento de improvisación. Por otra parte, la cultura es un mediador entre la fuerza de recursos humanos y el clima. También hubo un fuerte indicio de que la cultura puede ser un mediador entre la fuerza de recursos humanos y el comportamiento de improvisación. Las Limitaciones/Implicaciones de la investigación – Las limitaciones se prenden con el tamaño de la muestra y el hecho de que la investigación se llevó a cabo en una atención al cliente. Implicaciones para la investigación incluyen la necesidad de introducir el liderazgo en este tipo de estudios, así como la validación del modelo y de las escalas. La Originalidad/El valor – La investigación actual desarrolla el conocimiento en el área de três maneras. En primer lugar, presenta un nuevo instrumento para medir la fuerza de recursos humanos. En segundo lugar, introduce la improvisación como un resultado de los recursos humanos. Y en tercer lugar, pone a prueba un modelo completo que relaciona los recursos humanos con las estruturas sociales comunes (clima y la cultura) y los resultados de rendimiento (el comportamiento de la improvisación en este trabajo).Propósito/Objectivo – O objetivo deste artigo é´ explorar as ligações entre RH, a força da situação e comportamento de improvisação. Considera-se que um elevado grau de “ajustamento” entre as práticas de RH e entre essas práticas e a estratégia organizacional, tem um impacto nos resultados organizacionais. A forma como esses ajustamentos são alcançados não é, porém, totalmente compreendida na literatura. Foi proposto que o ajustamento horizontal é alcançado quando as mensagens sobre as questões de RH são comunicadas aos empregados de uma forma distintiva, consensual e consistente. Isso criará uma situação forte, que por sua vez, afeta os resultados, tais como o comportamento de improvisação. A força da situação é capturada pelos conceitos de força do clima, e força da cultura. Metodologia – O estudo foi conduzido num call center de uma empresa pertencente a um Grupo Português de Telecomunicações. No total, 91 questionários foram recolhidos. As escalas do questionário são baseadas em indicadores já´ existentes, mas uma nova medida de força de RH foi também utilizada. Os dados foram analisados com modelos de equações estruturais. Resultados – Os resultados mostram que a força da gestão de RH tem um efeito directo sobre o comportamento de improvisação. Além disso, a cultura é um mediador entre Força de RH e clima. Houve também um forte indício de que a cultura pode ser um mediador entre Força de RH e comportamento de improvisação. Limitações/Implicações da investigação – As limitações dizem respeito à dimensão da amostra e ao facto de que a pesquisa ter sido realizada num call center. Implicações para a investigação incluem a necessidade de introduzir a liderança neste tipo de estudos, bem como a validação de escalas e do modelo. Originalidade/Valor – Este estudo desenvolve o conhecimento na área de três maneiras. Em primeiro lugar, apresenta um novo instrumento para medir a força de RH. Em segundo lugar, introduz a improvisação como um resultado de RH. E em terceiro lugar, testa um modelo completo que liga RH a estruturas sociais comuns (clima e cultura) e a resultados de desempenho (comportamento de improvisação).This paper had partial support from FCT’s funded project PTDC/GES/64879/2006.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Interpreting measures of tuberculosis transmission : a case study on the Portuguese population

Background: Tuberculosis remains a high burden for Human society despite considerable investments in its control. Unique features in the history of infection and transmission dynamics of tuberculosis pose serious limitations on the direct interpretation of surveillance data and call for models that incorporate latent processes and simulate specific interventions.Methods: A transmission model was adjusted to the dataset of active tuberculosis cases reported in Portugal between 2002 and 2009. We estimated key transmission parameters from the data (i.e. time to diagnosis, treatment length, default proportion, proportion of pulmonary TB cases). Using the adjusted model to the Portuguese case, we estimated the total burden of tuberculosis in Portugal. We further performed sensitivity analysis to heterogeneities in susceptibility to infection and exposure intensity.Results: We calculated a mean time to diagnose of 2.81 months and treatment length of 8.80 months in Portugal. The proportion defaulting treatment was calculated as 0.04 and the proportion of pulmonary cases as 0.75. Using these values, we estimated a TB burden of 1.6 million infected persons, corresponding to more than 15% of the Portuguese population. We further described the sensitivity of these estimates to heterogeneity.Conclusions: We showed that the model reproduces well the observed dynamics of the Portuguese data, thus demonstrating its adequacy for devising control strategies for TB and predicting the effects of interventions

A Comparative Study of Pentaquark Interpolating Currents

In a diquark-diquark-antiquark picture of pentaquarks, we use two interpolating currents to calculate the mass of the recently measured $\Xi^{--}$ state in the framework of QCD sum rules. We show that, even though yielding similar values for $m_{\Xi^{--}}$ (and close to the experimental value), these currents differ from each other in what concerns the strength of the pole, convergence of the OPE and sensitivity to the continuum threshold parameter.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, replaced version accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.

Pentaquark Decay in QCD Sum Rules

In a diquark-diquark-antiquark picture of the pentaquark we study the decay $\Theta \to K^{+} n$ within the framework of QCD sum rules. After evaluation of the relevant three-point function, we extract the coupling $g_{\Theta nK}$ which is directly related to the pentaquark width. Restricting the decay diagrams to those with color exchange between the meson-like and baryon-like clusters reduces the coupling constant by a factor of four. Whereas a small decay width might be possible for a positive parity pentaquark, it seems difficult to explain the measured width for a pentaquark with negative parity.Comment: 14pages, 5 eps figures. Contribution to the proceedings of LC200

The J/ψDDJ/\psi D D Vertex in QCD Sum Rules

The $J/\psi D D$ form factor is evaluated in a QCD sum rule calculation for both $D$ and $J/\psi$ off-shell mesons. We study the double Borel sum rule for the three point function of two pseudoscalar and one vector meson current. We find that the momentum dependence of the form factors is different if the $D$ or the $J/\psi$ meson is off-shell, but they lead to the same coupling constant in the $J/\psi D D$ vertex.Comment: 11 pages, Latex, 4 eps figure

Are Θ+\Theta^+ and the Roper resonance diquark-diquark-antiquark states?

We consider a $[ud]^2\bar{s}$ current in the QCD sum rule framework to study the mass of the recently observed pentaquark state $\Theta^+(1540)$, obtaining good agreement with the experimental value. We also study the mass of the pentaquark $[ud]^2\bar{d}$. Our results are compatible with the interpretation of the $[ud]^2\bar{d}$ state as being the Roper resonance N(1440), as suggested by Jaffe and Wilczek.Comment: 9 pages RevTex4 and 3 eps figures. Revised version accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.