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1 – 10 of 10Steffen Roth, Markus Heidingsfelder, Lars Clausen and Klaus Brønd Laursen
This paper aims to show how a sociological description – a swarm analysis of the Nazi dictatorship – initially made with the means borrowed from George Spencer-Brown’s Calculus of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to show how a sociological description – a swarm analysis of the Nazi dictatorship – initially made with the means borrowed from George Spencer-Brown’s Calculus of Indications, can be transformed into a digital circuit and with which methods and tools of digital mathematics this digital circuit can be analyzed and described in its behavior. Thus, the paper also aims to contribute to a better understanding of Chapter 11 of “Laws of Form.”
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis uses methods of automata theory for finite, deterministic automata. Basic set operations of digital mathematics and special set operations of the Boolean Differential Calculus are used to calculate digital circuits. The software used is based on ternary logic, in which the binary Boolean logic of the elements {0, 1} is extended by the third element “Don’t care” to {0, 1, −}.
Findings
The paper confirms the method of transforming a form into a digital circuit derived from the comparative functional and structural analysis of the Modulator from Chapter 11 of “Laws of Form” and defines general rules for this transformation. It is shown how the indeterminacy of re-entrant forms can be resolved in the medium of time using the methods of automata theory. On this basis, a refined definition of the degree of a form is presented.
Originality/value
The paper shows the potential of interdisciplinary approaches between sociology and information technology and provides methods and tools of digital mathematics such as ternary logic, Boolean Differential Calculus and automata theory for application in sociology.
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Manjari Maheshwari, Uma Kumar and Vinod Kumar
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of alignment at the team level. Because teams are important in software development projects, the paper focuses on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of alignment at the team level. Because teams are important in software development projects, the paper focuses on studying the influence of alignment between the social and technical capabilities on software development team performance. Drawing on socio‐technical theory and software product development literature, the paper aims to identify social and technical capabilities for software development teams.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical data from 192 software development teams were analyzed. The profile deviation approach was used to calculate alignment.
Findings
The findings suggest that misalignment between capabilities negatively impacts product and process performance.
Research limitations/implications
The study provides an intellectually coherent view in studying software development team performance. The study contributes to the literature by assessing alignment needs at the team level.
Practical implications
The study provides a holistic view for studying team capabilities and guides software development team leaders and managers to consider both the social and technical aspects in assessing team performance.
Originality/value
Alignment or misalignment is mostly studied in the literature from a macro level/organizational perspective. There exists a gap in the literature for studying alignment at more granular levels such as between various business sub‐units or within teams. The study addresses the gap by studying alignment within teams.
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Shared leadership is increasingly important in today's organizations. The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between shared leadership and team performance, the…
Abstract
Purpose
Shared leadership is increasingly important in today's organizations. The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between shared leadership and team performance, the moderating role of demographic diversity and the mediating role of information sharing on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The research used a field study design, quantitative data of employees from two different organizations. Data were analyzed with structural equation modeling analyses.
Findings
Shared leadership was positively associated with team performance and this association was mediated by information sharing. Demographic diversity moderated the relationship between shared leadership and team performance, such that shared leadership was more strongly associated with team performance in more diverse teams and less in less diverse teams.
Research limitations/implications
The results found support for moderating and mediating variables, explaining under what conditions and how shared leadership is associated with team performance in organizations.
Practical implications
The findings highlight the importance of nurturing shared leadership, in particular as teams tend to grow more diverse in our todays’ work settings. They also highlight the importance of diversity in how shared leadership unfolds its potential.
Social implications
The research highlights that shared leadership, diversity, and information are increasingly important in today's organizations and should be considered from a more positive standpoint.
Originality/value
This research explored the association between shared leadership, demographic diversity, and information sharing with team performance. It represents a first step in examining the moderating and mediating variables of the shared leadership and team performance association.
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Spiros Gounaris, George Chryssochoidis and Achilleas Boukis
This paper reports on the impact of perceived resource adequacy (PRA) and competence (PRC) on new service development (NSD) teams’ internal performance (IP). This study aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper reports on the impact of perceived resource adequacy (PRA) and competence (PRC) on new service development (NSD) teams’ internal performance (IP). This study aims to explore the indirect effect of internal market orientation (IMO) adoption, as a dynamic capability, on both PRA and PRC through the shaping of the emerging dynamics within NSD teams.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a hierarchical research design, the authors use a meso-theory approach to test a path-analytic framework against 116 NSD managers (offering data at the macro- or organisational level) and 543 NSD team members (offering data at the micro- or team level).
Findings
Both PRA and PRC are important in explaining NSD teams’ IP at the organisational level, though their explanatory power varies. The adoption of IMO is also an important antecedent to this factor through the (indirect) effect on the team climate and degree of integration.
Research limitations/implications
IMO is an important dynamic capability that allows management to transform the mindset of employees, even if they do not directly interact with customers. In NSD efforts, this reflects on the team’s perceptions of the adequacy of the resources they have to deliver the project through the managerial interventions at the team level, which (mainly) explains the team’s IP.
Practical implications
Adopting an IMO allows the development of a dynamic capability that carries wider benefits for the service organisation, as this has positive implications not just for frontline employees. Specifically, NSD efforts are likely to become more resource-efficient as a result of IMO adoption because of the interventions of management during the development effort.
Originality/value
This empirical study is the first to test the impact of IMO adoption as a dynamic capability and in a context other than frontline employees from a meso-theory perspective. This allows considering the different effects at the appropriate levels (macro and micro), thus enabling a more accurate definition of the mechanism through which companies benefit from IMO adoption.
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This paper aims to extend the literature on how to harness the expertise of team members. This paper suggests that the leader’s expertise recognition plays an important role in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to extend the literature on how to harness the expertise of team members. This paper suggests that the leader’s expertise recognition plays an important role in enhancing team effectiveness. In addition, leader’s personal dispositions shape how the leader’s recognition could benefit team expertise utilization.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper utilizes a two-wave, multi-source (team leaders and team members rated) survey design from 78 information technology teams to test the proposed moderated mediation model.
Findings
The data analysis revealed that a leader’s expertise recognition is positively related to team expertise utilization. Moreover, the leaders’ traits (i.e. social dominance and reflectiveness) act as important boundary conditions of this relationship. Specifically, only when the leader is less socially dominant or more reflective can they fully utilize the expertise recognition and enhance team creativity through team expertise utilization.
Originality/value
This study investigated an important issue that expertise utilization research has hitherto overlooked: the effects of leader’s expertise recognition on team expertise utilization and team creativity.
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