Examining the Factors Influencing Organizational Creativity in Professional Sport Organizations

Excerpt: Success in marketing requires creativity, and sport marketing is no different (Schwarz & Hunter, 2008)

Examining the factors influencing organizational creativity in professional sport organizations

Increasingly, globalization and the adoption of a market economy have made innovation fundamental for the success of organizations (Eklinder-Frick, Eriksson, & Hallén, 2014). Beyond market share, an innovative organization improves employee job satisfaction, employee self-efficacy and decreases turnover (Elskildsen & Dahlgaard, 2000; Valentine, Godkin, Fleischman, & Kidwell, 2011). However, professional sport organizations enhance or hinder creativity for many reasons. For example, teams operate essentially in an oligarchy (Wolfe, Wright & Smart, 2006). Additionally, professional sport industry tend to be isomorphic (O’Brien & Slack, 2004), hyper-traditional (Wolfe et al., 2006), or a hierarchical-type organization (Hartnell et al., 2011). Therefore, the purpose of this research is to determine the antecedents of organizational creativity in professional sport organizations. Perception of organizational creativity is theorized to be influenced by individual employee creativity, work environment, and the social interactions of employees. Amabile’s (1983) theory of individual creativity, West’s (1990) four factor theory of team climate, and social network analysis theory was used to build a model for organizational creativity. The results based on a survey for three professional sport organization’s front offices, indicated higher engagement in information searching and encoding processes was associated with higher levels of employee creativity. Perceptions of a work environment with a clear vision, supportive of innovation, task orientation, and participative safety, were associated with greater perceptions of organizational creativity. The lack of relationships between many of the factors theorized influencing employee creativity, as well as employee creativity and an individual’s social network, could indicate the sport industry is unique in creativity research. This study is the beginning in understanding the first step of innovation, and the processes that influence employees’ perceptions regarding the ways in which their work environment relate to organizational creativity

The steady-state repertoire of human SCF Ubiquitin ligase complexes does not require ongoing Nedd8 conjugation

The human genome encodes 69 different F-box proteins (FBPs), each of which can potentially assemble with Skp1-Cul1-RING to serve as the substrate specificity subunit of an SCF ubiquitin ligase complex. SCF activity is switched on by conjugation of the ubiquitin- like protein Nedd8 to Cul1. Cycles of Nedd8 conjugation and deconjugation acting in conjunction with the Cul1-sequestering factor Cand1 are thought to control dynamic cycles of SCF assembly and disassembly, which would enable a dynamic equilibrium between the Cul1- RING catalytic core of SCF and the cellular repertoire of FBPs. To test this hypothesis, we determined the cellular composition of SCF complexes and evaluated the impact of Nedd8 conjugation on this steady-state. At least 42 FBPs assembled with Cul1 in HEK 293 cells, and the levels of Cul1-bound FBPs varied by over two orders of magnitude. Unexpectedly, quantitative mass spectrometry revealed that blockade of Nedd8 conjugation led to a modest increase, rather than a decrease, in the overall level of most SCF complexes. We suggest that multiple mechanisms including FBP dissociation and turnover cooperate to maintain the cellular pool of SCF ubiquitin ligases

Standardizing Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stromal Cells for Translation to Clinical Use: Selection of GMP-Compliant Medium and a Simplified Isolation Method

Citation: Smith, J. R., Pfeifer, K., Petry, F., Powell, N., Delzeit, J., & Weiss, M. L. (2016). Standardizing Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stromal Cells for Translation to Clinical Use: Selection of GMP-Compliant Medium and a Simplified Isolation Method. Stem Cells International, 14. doi:10.1155/2016/6810980Umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stromal cells (UC-MSCs) are a focus for clinical translation but standardized methods for isolation and expansion are lacking. Previously we published isolation and expansion methods for UC-MSCs which presented challenges when considering good manufacturing practices (GMP) for clinical translation. Here, a new and more standardized method for isolation and expansion of UC-MSCs is described. The new method eliminates dissection of blood vessels and uses a closed-vessel dissociation following enzymatic digestion which reduces contamination risk and manipulation time. The new method produced >10 times more cells per cm of UC than our previous method. When biographical variables were compared, more UC-MSCs per gram were isolated after vaginal birth compared to Caesarian-section births, an unexpected result. UC-MSCs were expanded in medium enriched with 2%, 5%, or 10% pooled human platelet lysate (HPL) eliminating the xenogeneic serum components. When the HPL concentrations were compared, media supplemented with 10% HPL had the highest growth rate, smallest cells, and the most viable cells at passage. UC-MSCs grown in 10% HPL had surface marker expression typical of MSCs, high colony forming efficiency, and could undergo trilineage differentiation. The new protocol standardizes manufacturing of UC-MSCs and enables clinical translation

Early weight gain predicts treatment response in adolescents with anorexia nervosa enrolled in a family‐based partial hospitalization program

ObjectiveImproved treatment outcome in family‐based treatment (FBT) for anorexia nervosa (AN) is predicted by weight gain occurring early in the course of treatment (i.e., about 4 lbs by week 4). Although prior work suggests that early weight gain in higher levels of care (e.g., partial hospitalization programs [PHP]) predicts weight restoration at discharge, no study has examined the specific rate of gain within FBT‐informed PHP programs that best predicts treatment response.MethodThis study examined rate of weight gain in pounds and percent expected body weight (EBW) that predicts positive outcome in 70 patients (M age = 15.49 years, SD = 2.56) with AN who were enrolled in a family‐based PHP.ResultsReceiver operator characteristic analyses demonstrated that changes in %EBW during weeks 2–5 were more useful than changes in weight in predicting positive outcome. Gaining at least 8.9 pounds or over 8% of EBW in the first 4 weeks of treatment significantly predicted positive outcome.DiscussionFindings suggest that positive outcome in an FBT‐informed PHP is predicted by rapid weight gain in the initial weeks of treatment. Research is needed to identify specific family and patient characteristics that facilitate weight gain and to develop corresponding interventions to improve outcome.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154930/1/eat23248_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154930/2/eat23248.pd

Strategies for a Successful PhD Program: Words of Wisdom From the \u3cem\u3eWJNR\u3c/em\u3e Editorial Board

Nursing doctoral programs prepare students for research-focused careers within academic settings. The purpose of this Editorial Board Special Article is to provide PhD students and advisors with suggestions for making the most of their doctoral experience. Editorial Board members provide their individual insights on the skills and attributes students must acquire during the course of their doctoral education in order to succeed. The authors provide practical tips and advice on how to excel in a PhD program, including how to select an advisor and a dissertation committee, the importance of attending conferences to increase visibility and develop a network of colleagues, presenting and publishing research while still a student, and balancing work and personal life. Students who take full advantage of the opportunities available to them during the course of their doctoral programs will graduate well prepared to take on the multiple responsibilities of research, teaching, and leadership

Analogies between the crossing number and the tangle crossing number

Tanglegrams are special graphs that consist of a pair of rooted binary trees with the same number of leaves, and a perfect matching between the two leaf-sets. These objects are of use in phylogenetics and are represented with straightline drawings where the leaves of the two plane binary trees are on two parallel lines and only the matching edges can cross. The tangle crossing number of a tanglegram is the minimum crossing number over all such drawings and is related to biologically relevant quantities, such as the number of times a parasite switched hosts. Our main results for tanglegrams which parallel known theorems for crossing numbers are as follows. The removal of a single matching edge in a tanglegram with $n$ leaves decreases the tangle crossing number by at most $n-3$, and this is sharp. Additionally, if $\gamma(n)$ is the maximum tangle crossing number of a tanglegram with $n$ leaves, we prove $\frac{1}{2}\binom{n}{2}(1-o(1))\le\gamma(n)<\frac{1}{2}\binom{n}{2}$. Further, we provide an algorithm for computing non-trivial lower bounds on the tangle crossing number in $O(n^4)$ time. This lower bound may be tight, even for tanglegrams with tangle crossing number $\Theta(n^2)$.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure