“WE NEED TO TALK!” - PROJECT TEAMS DEALING WITH LOW CONNECTIVITY

The continuous technological development and the consistent reliance on ICT, has raised the expectations towards ubiquitous connectivity to an extent that technical failures or social disconnects are a serious threat for project teams and their performance, especially when team members are scattered around the world. We analyse hypo-connectivity, the state in which users face too few connectivity to work efficiently, and focus on its impact in project teams. By applying a mixed method approach in the context of an international consulting company, we investigate the two-sided phenomenon of hypo-connectivity and aim to identify the consequences of hypo-connectivity on communication effectiveness and efficiency, as well as the role of connectivity norms in this relationship. Our results show that hypo-connectivity has a negative influence on communication effectiveness and efficiency, which consequently leads to decreased performance, increased frustration, and conflicts. However, the establishment of connectivity norms in project teams can ease the effects of hypo-connectivity, sustain the communication flow and balance the negative impact. We conclude that people actually “need to talk” about the dos and don’ts that sustain their communication flow and develop connectivity norms that could help the team circumvent the negative effects of hypo-connectivity

Do You Plead Connected? - Understanding How Lawyers Deal With Constant Connectivity

Being available and responsive has become an imperative to accomplish the complex work of knowledge workers and to adequately satisfy today’s business needs. As a consequence, individuals are required to adopt strategies to cope with increasing connectivity levels. We conducted a Q methodological study among 34 lawyers from Switzerland and Austria to examine the adoption of different strategies for dealing with constant connectivity. Our findings reveal four ICT user types, whereof three types successfully deploy a coping strategy while one type fails. We observe that specific determinants such as the work environment, the hierarchical position, the perceived autonomy as well as personality traits have substantial influence on the adoption of a coping strategy

Innovation Contests: How to Design for Successful Idea Selection

Innovation contests provide several benefits, but many organizations struggle with managing emergent challenges that occur during the idea selection process. This paper builds on qualitative interviews, where practitioners shared their experiences with managing innovation contests. Across the 13 contest domains studied in 31 cases, we identified five frequently occurring contest goals: (1) promote entrepreneurship, (2) collect innovative ideas, (3) elevate awareness, (4) explore market opportunities, and (5) find talent that influence the design of the selection process. Moreover, for five common emergent challenges we identified how practitioners apply manual and IT-enabled coping strategies, which can be associated with three design elements, i.e., the (1) ideas for the innovation, the (2) raters of the ideas, and the (3) duration of the selection process. These findings are summarized in a guiding framework that helps practitioners design, navigate, and manage the complex process of idea selection

FROM ISOLATION TO COLLABORATION - HOW THE INCREASING DIFFUSION OF MOBILE DEVICES HAS CHANGED PRACTICES OF KNOWLEDGE SHARING IN NON-OFFICE SETTINGS

The increasing diffusion of mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets has not only revolutionized how people communicate with each other, but has also changed work practices and the way employ-ees share knowledge. Knowledge management studies have to date mainly focused on office settings but paid little attention to non-office workplace settings. However, the use of mobile devices also changes the way employees can be supported and support each other in non-office settings and thus create new application areas for knowledge management. In this research, we applied a three step qualitative inquiry with 36 experts in the construction sector to investigate how the increasing diffu-sion of mobile devices has affected existing work practices that are associated with knowledge sharing in non-office settings. We found that the use of mobile devices helped to transform isolated work prac-tices into collaborative work practices, thereby reducing the spatial, temporal, contextual, and social barriers to knowledge sharing. As such, an increase in connectivity can be seen as an indicator for potential development of increased collaboration across work sites. We conclude the paper with a dis-cussion of implications for organizations concerning the support of knowledge sharing in such settings and an outlook on future work

NOT JUST ANOTHER TYPE OF RESISTANCE – TOWARDS A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF SUPPORTIVE NON-USE

Research on information system (IS) adoption and resistance has accumulated substantial theoretical and managerial knowledge. Surprisingly, the paradox that end users support and at the same time resist use of an IS has received relatively little attention. The investigation of this puzzle, however, is important to complement our understanding of resistant behaviours and consequently to strengthen the explanatory power of extant theoretical constructs on IS resistance. We investigate an IS project within the healthcare sector in the UK in which end-users, who were heavily involved during the de-sign, implementation and roll out, expressed their support for the system, while simultaneously showing resistance. To examine this behaviour in detail, we applied Q methodology. As a result, we identified three different groups: (1) The convinced connector, waiting for collaborators. (2) The savvy explorer, sceptical about the tools’ benefits. (3) The ambivalent follower, overwhelmed by complexity. While the behaviour is similar across all three groups, the reasons for not using the system differ significantly. Based on these groups, as our main contribution, we explain the paradox of supportive non-use. We further add a fine grained understanding of supportive non-use to the existing types of IS resistance

Haematoma caused by bone marrow aspiration and trephine biopsy

We report a case of a bone marrow aspiration and trephine biopsy (BMATB) associated haematoma in an 85-years old male without any predisposing risk factors. Six days after BMATB, he suffered from a massive thigh and buttock haematoma and a fall in haematocrit. It is important to know that BMATB can have complications aiding early recognition and therapy

Evaluation at scale: An approach to evaluate technology for informal workplace learning across contexts

The implicit, spontaneous and hidden nature of informal learning in addition to the large and less predictable number of application scenarios challenge the evaluation of learning technology. A further challenge for evaluation is added if a user-centred design method had been employed that already had involved users in large numbers and has led to a high level of expectations regarding the potential of the tool to fulfil their needs. We propose an evaluation approach based on the ideas of active involvement of stakeholders, an iterative planning process, a continuous, open and collaborative interpretation of the data collected on the basis of representations shared across cases plus a pluralism of methods for evaluating learning technology and is particularly intended for large scale evaluations in workplace settings. We present a case, in which we applied the proposed evaluation approach in the context of a large scale research project on technology-enhanced-learning

Scaffolded contributions, active meetings and scaled engagement: How technology shapes informal learning practices in healthcare SME networks

The importance of informal learning in modern, fast paced work environments has long been recognised. While technology support has been suggested for informal learning by individuals and in organisations, it is only more recently, that we have been able to study in more detail how technology can support such learning in real workplaces. This paper examines technology supported informal workplace learning in the relatively unexplored context of cross-organisational networks of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We developed an informal learning tool, using a participative, co-design approach found useful for engaging such networks. We analyse qualitative data on tool usage, collected over six months from 30 professionals, working in three different cross-organisational healthcare SME networks. We identify three changes in practice: (1) scaffolded contributions, (2) active meetings and (3) scaled engagement. We explain how and why some functionalities in the tool contributed to these changed practices while others were unused. The changed practices are linked to three stages of organisational knowledge creation: making individual knowledge explicit, group knowledge integration and institutionalisation. We propose three associations between tool functionalities and these processes that contribute to our understanding of technology support for informal learning in early stages of knowledge creation in cross-organisational networks

A metodologia Orff nas aulas de formação musical : relatório de prática de ensino supervisionada

O presente Relatório de Estágio está inserido no âmbito da Prática de Ensino Supervisionada, no 2º ano do Mestrado em Ensino da Música, da Escola Superior de Artes Aplicadas do Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco. Apresenta a intervenção da estagiária no Conservatório do Vale do Sousa em Lousada com alunos do Ensino Básico nas disciplinas de Formação Musical e Coro. Ao longo do estágio, foi implementado um projeto dirigido aos alunos de Formação Musical abordando as aulas com um caráter diferente e realizando atividades baseadas na Metodologia Orff. A estagiária teve como principal objetivo cativar o interesse dos alunos e ensinar a matéria proposta de uma maneira mais lúdica e prática para manter a sua motivação. Foram elaboradas peças tanto individualmente como coletivamente em sala de aula utilizando a voz, o movimento e os Instrumentos Orff. Também, foram realizados exercícios alguns formados pela estagiária e outros retirados das peças. Estes foram relacionados com a parte teórica, como ditados rítmicos e melódicos, escalas maiores e menores, acordes e intervalos. Ao longo das aulas, os participantes tiveram a oportunidade de conhecer novas maneiras de ensino, para poder aprender e compreender a matéria. Ferramentas neste projeto foram três questionários, através dos quais pretendia-se verificar qual a importância da utilização da Metodologia Orff nas aulas de Formação Musical em relação com a motivação que sentiram. Por fim, juntamente aos questionários, foram elaboradas algumas gravações durante às aulas para estudar o comportamento da turma em relação à motivação, ao espírito de grupo e a participação nas atividades.Abstract : The present Internship Report is part of the Supervised Teaching Practice, in the 2nd year of the Master's Degree in Music Teaching, of the Higher School of Applied Arts of the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco. It presents the intervention of the trainee at the Conservatory of Vale do Sousa, in Lousada, with students of Basic Education in the subjects of Music and Choir. Throughout the internship, a project was implemented directed to the students of Music Formation, approaching classes with a different character and performing activities based on the Orff Methodology. The main objective of the trainee was to increase students' interest and teach the subject matter in a more playful and practical way, in order to maintain their motivation. Pieces were produced, both individually and collectively, in the classroom using voice, movement and Orff Instruments. Furthermore, some exercises were performed by the trainee and others extracted from the pieces. These were related to the theoretical part, such as rhythmic and melodic dictations, major and minor scales, chords and intervals. Throughout the classes, the participants had the opportunity to learn new ways of teaching, in order to learn and understand the subject The tools in this project were three questionnaires, through which we intended to verify the importance of the use of the Orff Methodology in the Music Training classes concerning the motivation the students felt. Finally, along with the questionnaires, some recordings were made during class to study the behaviour of the class in terms of motivation, group spirit and participation in the activities