There are hardly any instruments to measure teamwork behaviors from an individual approach. This applies both in interprofessional teams or not, and in teams involved in health, social care, and other areas. The Individual Behavior Analysis scale measures efficacious behavior in work teams. It is one of the few instruments proposed in the literature to measure personal skills necessary for teamwork. Only a previous exploratory analysis of the scale was informed in another study. This article analyzes its internal structure using (...) different confirmatory factor analyses and its internal consistency, with a sample of 815 employees working for Spanish social organizations in the geriatric field, both private and public. The results of the definitive version adapted to Spanish, referred to as Individual Behavior Analysis −25, indicate a good fit of the model to the data and good reliability. Factor analysis confirmed the existence of two factors: Communication skills and Acceptance, with good internal consistency coefficients. This scale is a useful instrument for assessing, based on the reviewed literature, two of the most important individual skills an efficacious team should have. (shrink)

Teams are considered to be extremely complex dynamic entities that suffer at the hand of constant evolution of their structure to meet and adapt to the varying situational demands they come face-to-face with (Kozlowski & Ilgen, 2006). Agencies, industries, and government institutions are currently placing greater attention to the adaption of team dynamics and teamwork as they are important to key organizational outcomes. As greater attention is being placed on the maturation of team dynamics, the incorporation of efficient (...) methodological tools to understand how teams are being measured over time becomes critical. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to present a review of relevant academic articles detailing the science behind methodological tools and general approaches to study team dynamics over time. We provide an overview of the methodological tools used to understand team dynamics with accordance to specific temporal elements. Drawing from Kozloski, Gully, Nason, and Smith (1999) process model of team development, we highlight relevant emergent team constructs within each stage. As well, for each stage, we discuss the what and how to measure team dynamics. Our analyses bring to light relevant, novel and complex approaches being used by researchers to examine specific constructs within different team developmental phases (e.g., agent-based simulations, computational modeling) and the importance of transitioning from a single source methodology approach. Implications and future research are also discussed. (shrink)

Complex work in teams requires coordination across team members and their technology as well as the ability to change and adapt over time to achieve effective performance. To support such complex interactions, recent efforts have worked toward the design of adaptive human-autonomy teaming systems that can provide feedback in or near real time to achieve the desired individual or team results. However, while significant advancements have been made to better model and understand the dynamics of team interaction (...) and its relationship with task performance, appropriate measures of team coordination and computational methods to detect changes in coordination have not yet been widely investigated. Having the capacity to measure coordination in real time is quite promising as it provides the opportunity to provide adaptive feedback that may influence and regulate teams’ coordination patterns and, ultimately, drive effective team performance. A critical requirement to reach this potential is having the theoretical and empirical foundation from which to do so. Therefore, the first goal of the paper is to review approaches to coordination dynamics, identify current research gaps, and draw insights from other areas, such as social interaction, relationship science, and psychotherapy. The second goal is to collate extant work on feedback and advance ideas for adaptive feedback systems that have potential to influence coordination in a way that can enhance the effectiveness of team interactions. In addressing these two goals, this work lays the foundation as well as plans for the future of human-autonomy teams that augment team interactions using coordination-based measures. (shrink)

Team reflexivity has gained increasing research attention as an effective response to the core challenge of constant learning, innovation, and adaptation in teams due to changing circumstances. Under the right conditions, empirical studies have found that team reflexivity can improve team performance, team learning, team innovation, team creativity, and team member well-being. Thus, research shows that team reflexivity is an effective means to improve teamwork and team outcomes. This book addresses (...) the problem that team reflexivity research is focused too narrowly on improving these empirical team outcomes while neglecting the importance of normative principles and values in good teamwork, such as the do no harm principle. Therefore, this book proposes that the team reflexivity concept needs broader reframing and deeper reflection to realize normative principles and values in teams as a precondition for good teamwork, e.g., do no harm. It further presents two team reflexivity tools and applies them in the cases of burnout prevention and speaking up freely in teams to illustrate the point of this book: Do no harm in teams requires team reflexivity, and vice versa, team reflexivity requires do no harm. (shrink)

Purpose of the article American university and college campus law enforcement, like their peers in American munipal law enforcement agencies, find themselves interacting frequently with civilians experiencing mental health disturbances. An innovative model for law enforcement, the Crisis Intervention Team model, has been developed to address the difficulties law enforcement professionals and civilians in mental health crisis face during encounters. This article explores how CIT can enhance police response to mental health crisis on the college campus. Methodology/methods Methods of (...) applied research were conducted, borrowing from a benchmarking model and including interviews with multiple key informants representing law enforcement and mental health. Informants were affiliated with three universities and multiple municipal jurisdictions in Virginia, USA. Scientific goal The goal was to assess the relevance of CIT on the college campus and explore creative approaches to enhancing campus police response to mental health crisis. Findings The results supported the scholarly literature regarding the efficacy of the CIT model. Creative adaptations to the CIT model for campus possibly can be implemented to address concerns of mental health crisis on campus. Conclusions CIT is a highly innovative model requiring extensive collaboration between law enforcement, mental health agencies, and mental health advocates. As standard qualitative research was not conducted, the sample size of key informants may not have reached saturation. However, findings from the interviews support the body of literature on CIT. The implementation of CIT on the college campus could possibly help to alleviate difficulties on campus arising from mental health crisis, including reducing inappropriate arrest or disciplinary action, improving campus safety, addressing concerns related to threat assessment and management, and enhancing collaborative efforts on campus and with resources in the broader community. (shrink)

The current study proposes a moderated mediation model to explain the relationship between humble leadership and team innovation. Our hypothesis integrates social information processing theory with the existing literature on humble leadership. As a result, we theorize that when a humble individual leads a team, the team members are more likely to reconsider strategies, review events with self-awareness, share diverse information, and adapt to new ideas, which in turn promotes innovative team activities. Moreover, consistent with the (...) research that emphasizes the inclusion of team culture in exploring leader–innovation relationships, we investigate the moderating role of a team’s expertise diversity in the above positive, indirect relationship. We test our model by using both archival and survey data collected from 135 teams within 18 medium-to-large internet technology firms in China. The findings largely support our theoretical assertions, suggesting that humble leadership has important implications for team processes and innovation. (shrink)

The dynamical hypothesis claims that cognitive systems, such as teams, are dynamical systems (i.e., an interdependent collection of individuals and their technology that change together over time). Following this hypothesis, team researchers have adopted dynamical approaches to better understand the team cognitive processes and states that form team cognition, as well as how they emerge over time. One approach focuses on team coordination dynamics, which examines the coupling of signals between interacting individuals in various modalities, and (...) has been shown to reflect aspects of team functioning including team cognition. However, how changes in team coordination relate to high-level team cognitive processes and states, as well as important events, are not yet fully understood. To this end, we advance a methodological framework for researching team cognition under the dynamical hypothesis. Subsequently, we provided an empirical case-study application of this framework. Thereby, this work contributes methodologically and empirically to a deeper understanding of team cognition, the dynamical hypothesis, and the synergy between them. (shrink)

In the context of the current uncertain, complex, and interdependent work systems, teams have become organizations’ substantial working unit, which in turn challenges the traditional view of employee performance and ultimately results in the emergence of team member work role performance. Employee team-oriented work role behaviors with proficiency, adaptivity, and proactivity, which are integrated by the new construct, are so crucial to team effectiveness that many organizations keenly expect to achieve team member work role performance through (...) implementing a dispersed pay-for-performance plan within a team. This study seeks to address the organizational practitioners’ main concern that whether pay dispersion among team members could actually help realize team member work role performance and further examines why and when an employee could respond to HPD within a team by engaging in team member work role behaviors from the perspective of the performance-shaping basis and team member’s workplace benign envy. Drawing on emotion-related theory, social comparison theory, legitimacy theory, expectation theory, and relative deprivation theory, it proposes that performance-based HPD could not only positively impact team member work role performance via workplace benign envy but also exert a direct-positive effect. Moreover, the activating effect of performance-based HPD on workplace benign envy and the mediating role are much stronger when a team member’s pay position is higher. The multi-source data including objective information and subjective perception among 362 ordinary employees within 66 Chinese organizational teams primarily supported the moderated mediation model. Yet, the direct-positive effect was not established. (shrink)

Research has revealed how inherent self-organizing tendencies in athletes and sports teams can be exploited to facilitate emergence of dynamical patterns in synergy formation in sports teams. Here, we discuss how game models, and associated tactical principles of play, may be implemented to constrain co-existing global-to-local and local-to-global self-organization tendencies in team sports players during training and performance. Understanding how to harness the continuous interplay between these co-existing, bi-directional, and coordination tendencies is key to shaping system behaviors in sports (...) training. Training programs are traditionally dominated by designs, which shape the self-organizing tendencies of players and teams at a global-to-local scale by coaches imposing a tactical/strategical plan with associated tactical principles of play. Nevertheless, recent research suggests that performers also need to be provided with opportunities to explore self-organizing tendencies that emerge at the local-to-global scale in training. This directional tendency in synergy formation can be facilitated by players being given opportunities to actively explore different adaptive and innovative performance solutions, coherent with principles of play circumscribed in an overarching game model. Developing methods (coaching sessions rooted on principles of dynamical systems theory that foment the development of such local-to-global relations) to exploit the continuous interplay between these co-existing tendencies within sports teams may promote more effective and efficient athlete skill training programs, in addition to enhancing performance. (shrink)

The current challenging organizational context demands that organizations adapt quickly and continuously in order to survive and maintain their competitive advantage. Considering this need, one of the responses given by companies has been the valorization of work teams and their capacity for innovation, as well as fostering positive skills and emergent states in employees, such as emotional carrying capacity and affective commitment, respectively. The aim of this research is thus to study the relationship between emotional carrying capacity and group innovation, (...) considering affective commitment as the mediating variable. To test these relationships, an empirical cross-sectional study was conducted including 138 Portuguese work teams belonging to different sectors of activity, composed of 625 members and their respective leaders. The results were analyzed through structural equation modeling and showed positive relationships between emotional carrying capacity and affective commitment, as well as between affective commitment and group innovation. In addition, the mediating role of affective commitment in the relationship between emotional carrying capacity and group innovation was also supported. Therefore, the results suggest that a work context in which members openly express their emotions contributes to reinforcing their affective attachment to the group, making them feel more involved and available to test and implement new ideas and procedures. The findings reinforce the benefits of promoting the expression of emotions and the development of healthy bonds between team members. (shrink)

For the philosopher Ivan Illich, society became a set of systems rather than a group of people. As such, society depersonalizes life and brings the need for open non-systematized spaces where people can act and interact outside their typical roles. On the other hand, an absence of formal structures may simply open spaces for the informal reproduction of society’s already well-established structures. Given this conjuncture, can systems be designed to foster personal expression? The answer I found in cybernetics is self-organization, (...) a process of adaptation to a context that can grow different organizations depending on what this context provides. This implies that personal expression is a concern in society’s emergent organizations, calling for meta planning to design the context of some of society’s self-organization processes. The cybernetician Gordon Pask argued that depersonalization follows from non-conversational communications, like the ones that develop in large committees. In response, Pask’s fellow cybernetician Stafford Beer proposed a meeting protocol called Team Syntegrity allowing large groups to subdivide into small integrated discussion groups. While Beer’s work has been extensively discussed in existent literature, this article presents the results of four experiments conducted by using variations of Beer’s protocol to understand both the ease with which it can be adapted to different situations, and the implications of its conversational structure on personal expression. The experiment’s realization demonstrates that the protocol’s preparation is laborious and hard to adapt in a timely manner in situations where participant numbers fluctuate. Automation of these processes, however, offers possibilities to use the approach in loosely organized groups. Automation can also help choosing the most appropriate protocol for particular situations through the manipulation of its configuration. Despite difficulties, the protocol offers promise for different purposes, encouraging personal expression in a way that reverberates with others’ personal perspectives. (shrink)

In the modern world, many important tasks have become too complex for a single unaided individual to manage. Teams conduct some safety-critical tasks to improve task performance and minimize the risk of error. These teams have traditionally consisted of human operators, yet, nowadays, artificial intelligence and machine systems are incorporated into team environments to improve performance and capacity. We used a computerized task modeled after a classic arcade game to investigate the performance of human–machine and human–human teams. We manipulated (...) the group conditions between team members; sometimes, they were instructed to collaborate, compete, or work separately. We evaluated players' performance in the main task (gameplay) and, in post hoc analyses, participant behavioral patterns to inform group strategies. We compared game performance between team types (human–human vs. human–machine) and group conditions (competitive, collaborative, independent). Adapting workload capacity analysis to human–machine teams, we found performance under both team types and all group conditions suffered a performance efficiency cost. However, we observed a reduced cost in collaborative over competitive teams within human–human pairings, but this effect was diminished when playing with a machine partner. The implications of workload capacity analysis as a powerful tool for human–machine team performance measurement are discussed. (shrink)

Background: Small-sided games are an adjusted form of official games that are often used in training scenarios to introduce a specific tactical issue to team sports players. Besides the acute effects of SSGs on players' performance, it is expectable that the consistent use of these drill-based games induces adaptations in the technical execution and tactical behaviors of youth team sports players.Objective: This systematic review with meta-analysis was conducted to assess the effects of SSG programs on the technical execution (...) and tactical behaviors of young and youth team sports players.Data Sources: The data sources utilized were PubMed, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science.Study Eligibility Criteria: Young and youth team sports players (i.e., 17 and <17 SSG training sessions, respectively.Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis revealed a significant beneficial effect of using SSG training programs for enhancing technical execution in young and youth players. The benefits were similar despite the various numbers of training sessions applied. Further studies should add tactical behaviors as one of the outcomes for controlling the effects of SSG training programs. (shrink)

China is located in the intersection area of two seismic zones. Due to this special geographical location, earthquake disasters occur frequently in China. Earthquake emergency rescue work is one of the key construction works of disaster prevention and mitigation in China. This paper mainly studies the earthquake disaster rescue model based on the complex adaptive system theory and establishes the earthquake disaster rescue model by analyzing the complex adaptive system theory and combining the earthquake rescue process. In this paper, through (...) the task allocation mechanism task, the disaster rescue task is divided into simple task and complex task, and the executive task subject is divided into single task subject and multitask subject. On the basis of considering the shortest emergency rescue time goal and the goal of maximizing the deployment utility of rescue team, the reasonable deployment of a rescue team is realized through a complex adaptive system, that is, the deployment utility of the rescue team is maximized. In this paper, the simulation experiment and comparison of the earthquake disaster rescue model based on the complex adaptive system theory are carried out. The experimental results show that the model used in this paper is better than the other two models in terms of algorithm convergence, rescue number, and overall score; in different scenarios, the relative survival probability of the model in this paper is 58.92%, 67.85%, and 77.46%, and the proportion of the wounded rescued is 66.31%, 76.45%, and 83.06%, which were higher than those of the other two models. The earthquake disaster rescue model based on the complex adaptive system theory proposed in this paper provides an effective theoretical basis and method system for postdisaster emergency rescue decision making and enhances and improves the emergency response ability to deal with large-scale geological disaster events. (shrink)

The aim of this present study is to investigate the influence of three learning contexts on the development of motor creativity of young footballers. In team sport, creativity is a fundamental issue because it allows players to adapt in an environment of high social uncertainty. To carry out this work, we suggest a method for assessing motor creativity into ecological situations based on the analysis of praxical communications. Creativity originates from an interaction between divergence and convergence. In our case, (...) the number of communications and the diversity of updated communications are our divergence indicators. Convergence, understood as the ability to make good decisions, is assessed by two expert judges. Sixty boys’ football players coming from three football clubs participated in this research. The study lasted 2 years. Each year, a team of 10 players from each club participated in the research twice a week for 32 weeks, these groups attended different training sessions: the control group followed a classical learning; the decoding group attended training focused on learning the praxemes of football; the traditional sporting games group followed a training session that was jointly focused on praxemes and the practice of traditional sporting games. The motor creativity of players and groups was assessed both at the beginning and at the end of the year during football matches. Compared to the control group, in the post-test, the group with the highest fluidity is the decoding group and the one with the highest fluidity is the traditional sporting games group. The latter group is also the one with the best convergence. The results showed that traditional games can help develop players’ creative abilities. This research invites us to investigate the complementarity between the different offered training. (shrink)

CYBATHLON is an international championship where people with severe physical disabilities compete with the aid of state-of-the-art assistive technology. In one of the disciplines, the BCI Race, tetraplegic pilots compete in a computer game race by controlling an avatar with a brain-computer interface. This competition offers a perfect opportunity for BCI researchers to study long-term training effects in potential end-users, and to evaluate BCI performance in a realistic environment. In this work, we describe the BCI system designed by the (...) class='Hi'>team Mirage91 for participation in the CYBATHLON BCI Series 2019, as well as in the CYBATHLON 2020 Global Edition. Furthermore, we present the BCI’s interface with the game and the main methodological strategies, along with a detailed evaluation of its performance over the course of the training period, which lasted 14 months. The developed system was a 4-class BCI relying on task-specific modulations of brain rhythms. We implemented inter-session transfer learning to reduce calibration time, and to reinforce the stability of the brain patterns. Additionally, in order to compensate for potential intra-session shifts in the features’ distribution, normalization parameters were continuously adapted in an unsupervised fashion. Across the aforementioned 14 months, we recorded 26 game-based training sessions. Between the first eight sessions, and the final eight sessions leading up to the CYBATHLON 2020 Global Edition, the runtimes significantly improved from 255 ± 23 s to 225 ± 22 s, respectively. Moreover, we observed a significant increase in the classifier’s accuracy from 46 to 53%, driven by more distinguishable brain patterns. Compared to conventional single session, non-adaptive BCIs, the inter-session transfer learning and unsupervised intra-session adaptation techniques significantly improved the performance. This long-term study demonstrates that regular training helped the pilot to significantly increase the distance between task-specific patterns, which resulted in an improvement of performance, both with respect to class separability in the calibration data, and with respect to the game. Furthermore, it shows that our methodological approaches were beneficial in transferring the performance across sessions, and most importantly to the CYBATHLON competitions. (shrink)

Introduction Families of patients with dementia may need support in difficult end-of-life decision making. Such guidance may be culturally sensitive. Methods To support families in Canada, a booklet was developed to aid decision making on palliative care issues. For reasons of cost effectiveness and promising effects, we prepared for its implementation in Italy, the Netherlands and Japan. Local teams translated and adapted the booklet to local ethical, legal and medical standards where needed, retaining guidance on palliative care. Using qualitative content (...) analyses, we grouped and compared adaptations to understand culturally sensitive aspects. Results Three themes emerged: (1) relationships among patient, physician and other professionals—the authority of the physician was more explicit in adapted versions; (2) patient rights and family position—adding detail about local regulations; and (3) typology of treatments and decisions. Considerations underlying palliative care decisions were detailed (Dutch and Italian versions), and the Japanese version frequently referred to professional and legal standards, and life-prolongation was a competing goal. Text on artificial feeding or fluids and euthanasia was revised extensively. Conclusions Providing artificial feeding and fluids and discussing euthanasia may be particularly sensitive topics, and guidance on these subjects needs careful consideration of ethical aspects and possible adaptations to local standards and practice. The findings may promote cross-national debate on sensitive, core issues regarding end-of-life care in dementia. (shrink)

Member selection to form an effective collaboration new product development team is crucial for a successful NPD. Existing researches on member selection mostly focus on the individual attributes of candidates. However, under the background of collaboration, knowledge complementarity and collaboration performance among candidates are important but overlooked. In this paper, we propose a multi-objective optimization model for member selection of a Co-NPD team, considering comprehensively the individual knowledge competence, knowledge complementarity, and collaboration performance. Then, to solve the model, (...) an improved adaptive genetic algorithm is developed. Finally, a real case is provided to illustrate the application of the model, and the IAGA is implemented to select the desired team members for optimal team composition. Additionally, the standard generic algorithm and particle swarm optimization are used to compare with the IAGA to further verify the effectiveness of the IAGA. (shrink)

BackgroundMoral distress has been described as an emotionally draining condition caused by being prevented from providing care according to one’s convictions. Studies have described the impact of moral distress on healthcare professionals, their situations and experiences. The Measure of Moral Distress for Healthcare Professionals (MMD-HP) is a questionnaire that measures moral distress experienced by healthcare professionals at three levels: patient, system and team. The aim of this project was to translate and make a cultural adaption of the MMD -HP (...) to the Swedish context.MethodsThe questionnaire comprises 27 items, rated according to frequency and intensity on a five-point Likert scale (0–4). The procedure for translating MMD-HP followed WHO guidelines (2020). These entailed a forward translation from English to Swedish, a back translation, expert panel validation, pretesting and cognitive face-to-face interviews with 10 healthcare professionals from various professions and healthcare contexts.ResultsThe Swedish version of MMD-HP corresponds essentially to the concept of the original version. Parts of some items’ had to be adjusted or removed in order to make the item relevant and comprehensible in a Swedish context. Overall, the cognitive interviewees recognized the content of the items which generally seemed relevant and comprehensible.ConclusionThe Swedish version of MMD-HP could be a useful tool for measuring moral distress among healthcare professionals in a Swedish healthcare context. (shrink)

In clinical mental health research with children, both child and parent are essential members of the research team. The 3 R's of parent/child team membership are respect, rapport, and recognition. Respect and recognition include fair reimbursement for time, expense, and inconvenience, but the most important compensation for many families is the appreciation of the other team members for their sacrifice and cooperation. Reimbursement, although honoring the principles of justice and respect for persons, raises difficult issues about appropriate (...) amount, particularly in research involving children. The 3 R's are supported by the investigator 5 A's: attitude, adaptability, availability, attachment, and appreciation. Although the principles seem clear in the abstract, implementation encounters many practical problems. Perhaps the most difficult of these is determining the appropriate amount of compensation that avoids undue inducement but not at the expense of the 3 R's and 5 A's. (shrink)

As the first stage of the formation of a collaborative new product innovation team, member selection is crucial for the effective operation of the CNPI team and the achievement of new product innovation goals. Considering comprehensively the individual and collaborative attributions, the individual knowledge competence, knowledge complementarity, and collaborative performance among candidates are chosen as the criteria to select CNPI team members in this paper. Moreover, using the fuzzy set and social network analysis method, the quantitative methods (...) of the above criteria are proposed correspondingly. Then, by integrating the above criteria, a novel multiobjective decision model for member selection of the CNPI team is built from the view of individual and collaborative attributions. Since the proposed model is NP-hard, a double-population adaptive genetic algorithm is further developed to solve it. Finally, a real case is provided to illustrate the application and effectiveness of the proposed model and method in this paper. (shrink)

Mindfulness has come to be considered an important approach to help individuals cultivate transformative capacity to free themselves from stress and suffering. However, the transformative potential of mindfulness extends beyond individual stress management. This study contributes to a broadening of the scope of contemplative science by integrating the prominent, individually focused mindfulness meditation literature with collective mindfulness scholarship. In so doing, it aims to illuminate an important context in which mindfulness interventions are increasingly prevalent: workplaces. Typically, the intended effect of (...) workplace mindfulness training is to help workers manage stress better. Since mindfulness in organizations impacts individual and collective processes, the study blends the above literatures to create a cross-level “next-generation” Team Mindfulness Training pilot. Its potential in helping individuals and teams to manage work stress better is investigated via a two-phase mixed-methods research study in high-stress military work populations, and compared to a conventional 8-week mindfulness meditation program based on mindfulness-based stress reduction. Results suggest that compared to the “first-generation” mindfulness program, TMT seems no less effective in raising individual stress management skills, and may hold more promise in generating collective capacity to manage stress and unexpected difficulty, linked to an apparent interdependence between collective and individual mindfulness capacity development. Based on these empirical results, the study contributes to theory in three important ways: first, it outlines how individual and collective mindfulness in workplaces may be interdependent. Second, it explains why “next-generation” workplace training interventions should apply a cross-level approach. And third, it illustrates how its transformative potential for people at work, individually as well as collectively, can be extended by moving beyond an inward-looking meditation focus in mindfulness training. The study contributes to practice by providing a detailed outline of the pilot TMT program, and offers a series of follow-up research opportunities to inspire further scientific innovation in workplace mindfulness training, especially for high-stress work populations. The study’s ultimate aim is to prompt a shift away from adapting clinically oriented, self-focused “first-generation” mindfulness training protocols, and towards mindfulness as team sport: a more prosocially oriented mindfulness science intent on generating wisdom and compassion, for one and all. (shrink)

Psychological stress can be both a help and a hindrance to wellbeing and performance in sport. The provision and receipt of social support is a key resource for managing adaptations to stress. However, extant literature in this area is largely limited to the recipient’s perspective of social support. Furthermore, social support is not always effective, with evidence suggesting it can contribute to positive, negative, and indifferent adaptations to stress. As such, we do not know how social support influences adaptations to (...) stress in sport. The social identity approach may explain how social support can lead to both positive and negative adaptations to stress. Our purpose in this study was to explore how social support and social identities influence adaptations to stress in a Rugby Academy Programme. Using qualitative methods within a naturalistic research paradigm, semi-structured interviews were conducted with Rugby Academy co-ordinators and players, and four focus groups were conducted with teams of support staff. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, which generated seven sub-themes categorized into two higher-order analytical themes. Our results demonstrate that group-based perceptions of social support influence adaptations to stress. Specifically, whether social support influences positive, negative, or indifferent adaptations to stress depended on social factors influencing the nature of social support, and social factors influencing the provision and receipt of social support. These findings advance our understanding of how adaptations to stress are influenced by social support. Implications are offered for how organizations, teams, and practitioners can facilitate positive adaptations to stress in sport. (shrink)

Background: While numerous studies have shown the positive impact of free healthcare policies, the ethical issues raised by these policies in low-income countries have received little attention. In Burkina Faso, in July 2016, user fees were removed at healthcare facilities for children under 59 months of age and for “mothers”, i.e., for reproductive care. These eligibility criteria are, reportedly, sometimes difficult to comprehend or to enforce. The purpose of this study is twofold: 1) to understand the perceptions and practices of (...) health workers and beneficiaries regarding compliance with eligibility criteria for free care and 2) to explore the ethical tensions that have arisen and possible ways of resolving them. Methodology: In late 2018, a cross-sectional qualitative study was conducted in five rural communities in Boulsa, Burkina Faso. Semi-directed individual interviews were conducted with healthcare personnel (n=10) and mothers of young children (n=10) who were purposefully selected with the assistance of community health workers. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. A thematic content analysis was conducted on all materials. Themes were identified, discussed and reformulated between team members. Results: The study reveals the presence of practices to circumvent strict compliance with the eligibility criteria for free access. Common circumventing practices include hiding the exact age of children aged 60 months or older and using eligible persons for stockpiling drugs or for receiving a free consultation for the benefit of other household members. These practices result from ethical and economic tensions experienced by the beneficiaries. But they also raise ethical dilemmas for healthcare providers since they have to enforce compliance with the eligibility criteria while realizing the financially precarious position of the households. Informal mechanisms are introduced at the community level to reconcile the healthcare providers’ dissonance. Conclusion: The implementation of the user fee abolition policy in Burkina Faso is being carried out through local reinvention mechanisms to overcome ethical tensions related to the compliance with the eligibility criteria. (shrink)

In standard times, approximately 20% of children and youth experience significant emotional, behavioral, or social challenges. During COVID-19, however, over half of parents have reported mental health symptoms in their children. Specifically, depressive symptoms, anxiety, contamination obsessions, family well-being challenges, and behavioral concerns have emerged globally for children during the pandemic. Without treatment or prevention, such concerns may hinder positive development, personal life trajectory, academic success, and inhibit children from meeting their potential. A school-based resiliency program for children for children (...) was developed, and the goal of this study was to collaborate with stakeholders to translate it into an online-live hybrid. Our team developed a methodology to do this based on Knowledge Translation-Integration, which incorporates stakeholder engagement throughout the entire research to action process. KTI aims to ensure that programs are acceptable, sustainable, feasible, and credible. Through collaboration with parents and school board members, qualitative themes of concerns, recommendations and validation were established, aiding in meaningful online-live translation. Even though the original program was developed for intellectually gifted children, who are at greater risk for mental health concerns, stakeholders suggested using the program for both gifted and non-gifted children, given the universal applicability of the tools, particularly during this pandemic time period when mental health promotion is most relevant. An online-live approach would allow students studying at home and those studying in the classroom to participate in the program. Broader implications of this study include critical recommendations for the development of both online-live school programs in general, as well as social-emotional literacy programs for children. (shrink)

This paper attempts to draw on management theory and practice and, more specifically, on know-how from the study of teamwork, to seek insights into enhancing the effectiveness of hospital ethics committees and clinical ethics committees (CECs), with the aim of contributing to heath-care organizations’ effective and efficient decision-making and operation. Based on an analysis of the obstacles that stand in the way of ethics committees’ (ECs’) efficient functioning, five specific conditions for EC success are brought forth. A couple of practical (...) tools for their attainment are proposed. The article suggests that the construction of those committees, as well as the working procedures that may render them effective, should be flexible and made adaptable to the specific assignment or case, which is dealt with by that committee, at the time; and that the optimal set of procedures to adopt, throughout the working sessions of ECs, are those which will gear the committee with the means to contribute to the eventual materializing and finalization of a quality and practical set of decisions; for the benefit of patients, their families, health-care organizations and the community, alike. (shrink)

The germ track is the cellular path by which genes are transmitted to future generations whereas somatic cells die with their body and do not leave direct descendants. Transposable elements (TEs) evolve to be silent in somatic cells but active in the germ track. Thus, the performance of most bodily functions by a sequestered soma reduces organismal costs of TEs. Flexible forms of gene regulation are permissible in the soma because of the self‐imposed silence of TEs, but strict licensing of (...) transcription and translation is maintained in the germ track to control proliferation of TEs. Delayed zygotic genome activation (ZGA) and maternally inherited germ granules are adaptations that enhance germ‐track security. Mammalian embryos exhibit very early ZGA associated with extensive mobilization of retroelements. This window of vulnerability to retrotransposition in early embryos is an indirect consequence of evolutionary conflicts within the mammalian genome over postzygotic maternal provisioning. (shrink)

Although the body of literature in sport science is growing rapidly, certain sports have yet to benefit from this increased interest by the scientific community. One such sport is Ultimate Frisbee, officially known as Ultimate. Thus, the goal of this study was to describe the nature of the sport by identifying differences between winning and losing teams in elite-level competition. To do so, a customized observational system and a state transition model were developed and applied to 14 games from the (...) 2017 American Ultimate Disc League season. The results reveal that, on average, 262.2 passes were completed by a team per game and 5.5 passes per possession. More than two-thirds of these passes were played from the mid zone and the rear zone, nearest the team’s own end zone. Winning and losing teams do not differ in these general patterns, but winning teams played significantly fewer backward passes from the front zone to the mid zone, nearest the opponent’s end zone than losing teams = −4.980, p < 0.001, d = −1.16). Furthermore, losing teams scored fewer points when they started on defense, called breakpoints = −6.365, p < 0.001, d = 2.30), and committed significantly more turnovers per game = 5.85, p < 0.001, d = −1.18). Overall, this study provides the first empirical description of Ultimate and identifies relevant performance indicators to discriminate between winning and losing teams. We hope this article sheds light on the unique, but so far overlooked sport of Ultimate, and offers performance analysts the basis for future studies using state transition modeling in Ultimate as well as other invasion sports. (shrink)

Background Global health systems operate amid dynamic factors, including demographic shifts, economic variations, political changes, technological progress, and societal trends that lead to VUCA reality (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity). To address these challenges, healthcare organizations are increasingly turning to Strategic Technological Processes and digital transformation. Research objective Against this background, the current study examined the personal experiences, conflicts, difficulties, and moral dilemmas attendant upon accommodating this digital transformation of healthcare professionals. Participants The study involved 27 healthcare professionals working in (...) Israeli hospitals, whose experiences and perspectives were central to understanding the impact of digital transformation in healthcare settings. Research design The study methodology rested on in-depth interviews, which were analyzed through the prism of the Listening Guide analytical technique. Ethical considerations The research obtained pre-approval from the Ethics Committee at the researcher’s institution. Findings The study revealed that the healthcare professionals are indeed facing ethical conflicts and personal challenges related to digitalization (such as providing the best quality of care, being the best caregiver, and acting for the betterment of the hospital). It also identified dilemmas resulting from conflicts between the needs and demands of the health system and the healthcare professionals’ values and resources. Discussion The study findings highlight the impact of ethical and moral challenges accompanying strategic organizational and digital transformation changes implemented by healthcare organizations worldwide. These challenges arise as healthcare institutions adapt to the demands of the 21st century, potentially leading to burnout and moral distress among healthcare professionals, further exacerbating the already stressful reality they face. Conclusion In conclusion, the study emphasizes the critical necessity for comprehensive support strategies to alleviate stress and burnout among healthcare professionals. As healthcare organizations and personnel navigate significant organizational changes to address contemporary challenges, prioritizing the well-being of healthcare workers through effective support mechanisms becomes imperative. (shrink)

The concept of shared mental models refers to the shared understanding among team members about how they should behave in different situations. This article aimed to develop a new shared mental model measure, specifically designed for the refereeing context. A cross-sectional study was conducted with three samples: national and regional football referees (n = 133), national football referees and assistant referees and national futsal referees (n = 277), and national futsal referees (n = 60). The proposed version of the (...) Referee Shared Mental Models Measure (RSMMM) has 13 items that are reflected on a single factor structure. The RSMMM presented good validity evidence both based on the internal structure and based on relations to other variables (presenting positive associations with team work engagement, team adaptive performance, and team effectiveness). Such promising psychometric properties point to an optimistic outlook regarding its use to measure shared mental models in futsal and football referee teams. -/- . (shrink)

The rapid advancement of new digital technologies, such as smart technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, robotics, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT), is fundamentally changing the nature of work and increasing concerns about the future of jobs and organizations. To keep pace with rapid disruption, companies need to update and transform business models to remain competitive. Meanwhile, the growth of advanced technologies is changing the types of skills and competencies needed in the workplace and demanded a shift (...) in mindset among individuals, teams and organizations. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digitalization trends, while heightening the importance of employee resilience and well-being in adapting to widespread job and technological disruption. Although digital transformation is a new and urgent imperative, there is a long trajectory of rigorous research that can readily be applied to grasp these emerging trends. Recent studies and reviews of digital transformation have primarily focused on the business and strategic levels, with only modest integration of employee-related factors. Our review article seeks to fill these critical gaps by identifying and consolidating key factors important for an organization’s overarching digital transformation. We reviewed studies across multiple disciplines and integrated the findings into a multi-level framework. At the individual level, we propose five overarching factors related to effective digital transformation among employees: technology adoption; perceptions and attitudes toward technological change; skills and training; workplace resilience and adaptability, and work-related wellbeing. At the group-level, we identified three factors necessary for digital transformation: team communication and collaboration; workplace relationships and team identification, and team adaptability and resilience. Finally, at the organizational-level, we proposed three factors for digital transformation: leadership; human resources, and organizational culture/climate. Our review of the literature confirms that multi-level factors are important when planning for and embarking on digital transformation, thereby providing a framework for future research and practice. (shrink)

In adaptive sports (also known as Para sports, disability sports, or Paralympic sports), athletes are assigned to classes that indicate their functional potential, regardless of talent, training, or experience. The aim of the present study among wheelchair basketball athletes (n = 141) was to explore the role of functional classification as a potential stressor. Specifically, we looked into the anecdotal relationship between classification and athletes' concern about “performing in accordance with one's class”. Based on a serial mediation research model, we (...) examined the links between functional classification and three outcome variables (i.e., cognitive worry, somatic arousal, and game performance) through the mediator variables of perceived competitive demands and sport-specific self-efficacy. Unexpectedly, we did not find any evidence of a classification effect on either the mediator variables or competitive anxiety. However, we did find positive correlations between functional classification and athletes' contribution to their team's score, which align with research supporting the proportionality and the validity of the functional classification system. Moreover, regardless of classification, mediation analyses revealed an indirect link between perceived competitive demands and cognitive worry through sport-specific self-efficacy. These findings suggest that, regardless of classification, athletes' self-efficacy may be increased by managing their appraisals of competitive demands and that their cognitive worries may be reduced by self-efficacy interventions. (shrink)

We hypothesize that effective collaboration is facilitated when individuals and environmental components form a synergy where they work together and regulate one another to produce stable patterns of behavior, or regularity, as well as adaptively reorganize to form new behaviors, or irregularity. We tested this hypothesis in a study with 32 triads who collaboratively solved a challenging visual computer programming task for 20 min following an introductory warm‐up phase. Multidimensional recurrence quantification analysis was used to examine fine‐grained (i.e., every 10 (...) s) collective patterns of regularity across team members' speech rate, body movement, and team interaction with the shared user interface. We found that teams exhibited significant patterns of regularity as compared to shuffled baselines, but there were no systematic trends in regularity across time. We also found that periods of regularity were associated with a reduction in overall behavior. Notably, the production of irregular behavior predicted expert‐coded metrics of collaborative activity, such as teams' ability to construct shared knowledge and effectively negotiate and coordinate execution of solutions, net of overall behavioral production and behavioral self‐similarity. Our findings support the theory that groups can interact to form interpersonal synergies and indicate that information about system‐level dynamics is a viable way to understand and predict effective collaborative processes. (shrink)

Motivation has been the subject of much research in the sport psychology literature, whereas athlete mental health has received limited attention. Motivational complexities in elite sport are somewhat reflected in the mental health literature, where there is evidence for both protective and risk factors for athletes. Notably, few studies have linked motivation to mental health. Therefore, the key objective of this study was to test four mental health outcomes in the motivational sequence posited by the Hierarchical Model of Intrinsic and (...) Extrinsic Motivation: motivational climate  basic psychological needs  motivation  mental health outcomes. Elite team-sport athletes (140 females, 75 males) completed seven psychometric inventories of motivation-related and mental health variables. Overall, the athletes reported positive motivational patterns, with autonomous motivation and task climate being more prevalent than their less adaptive counterparts. Elevated depressive symptoms and poor sleep quality affected nearly half of the cohort. Structural equation modelling supported pathways between motivational climate, basic needs, motivation, and mood, depressive symptoms, sleep quality, and trait anxiety. Specifically, a task climate was positively associated with the three basic psychological needs, and an ego climate was positively associated with competence. Autonomy and relatedness had positive and negative associations with autonomous and controlled forms of motivation, respectively. Controlled motivation regulations were positively associated with the four mental health outcomes. Integrated regulation had a negative association with anxiety, and intrinsic regulation had a positive association with depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the complexities of and interrelations between motivation and mental health among athletes, and support the importance of considering mental health as an outcome of motivation. (shrink)

The ability to anticipate team members' actions enables joint action towards a common goal. Task knowledge and mental simulation allow for anticipating other agents' actions and for making inferences about their underlying mental representations. In human–AI teams, providing AI agents with anticipatory mechanisms can facilitate collaboration and successful execution of joint action. This paper presents a computational cognitive model demonstrating mental simulation of operators' mental models of a situation and anticipation of their behavior. The work proposes two successive steps: (...) (1) A hierarchical cluster algorithm is applied to recognize patterns of behavior among pilots. These behavioral clusters are used to derive commonalities in situation models from empirical data (N = 13 pilots). (2) An ACT-R (adaptive control of thought - rational) cognitive model is implemented to mentally simulate different possible outcomes of action decisions and timing of a pilot. model tracing of ACT-R allows following up on operators' individual actions. Two models are implemented using the symbolic representations of ACT-R: one simulating normative behavior and the other by simulating individual differences and using subsymbolic learning. Model performance is analyzed by a comparison of both models. Results indicate the improved performance of the individual differences over the normative model and are discussed regarding implications for cognitive assistance capable of anticipating operator behavior. (shrink)

Background: Hospices are based on a holistic approach which places the physical, psychological, social and spiritual welfare of their patients at the forefront of their work. Furthermore, they draw up their own mission statements which they are at pains to follow and seek to conduct their work in accordance with codes of ethics and standards of care. Research question and design: Our study researched what form the processes and degrees of latitude in decision-making take in practice when questions of an (...) ethical and ethically relevant nature arise. We used a qualitative approach. Data collection and evaluation was based on the methods of grounded theory. Ethical considerations: The study was reported to the relevant Ethics Commission who had raised no objections following the submission of the study protocol. The study at the hospices was approved by the directors of the hospices and the nursing teams. The rights of the participants were protected by obtaining informed consent. Results: Medication in the prefinal phase and questions affecting the provision of solids and liquids in the end-of-life phase have an ethical dimension. In the context of these two fields, decisions are taken collectively. A nurse’s individual (and ethically relevant) leeway in decision-making processes is restricted to the nurse’s own style of administering care. The nurse’s decision-making often depends to a far greater degree on her ability to adapt her concept of ideal care to fit the practical realities of her work than to any conceptual framework. Discussion: An adaptive process is necessary for the nurse because she is required to incorporate the four pillars of hospice care – namely, physical, psychological, social and spiritual care – into the practice of her daily work. Conclusion: Ethically relevant decisions are often characterised by nurses adjusting their aspiration levels to the practical conditions with which they are confronted. (shrink)

As we approach the end of the twentieth century, the ways in which knowledge--scientific, social, and cultural--is produced are undergoing fundamental changes. In The New Production of Knowledge, a distinguished group of authors analyze these changes as marking the transition from established institutions, disciplines, practices, and policies to a new mode of knowledge production. Identifying such elements as reflexivity, transdisciplinarity, and heterogeneity within this new mode, the authors consider their impact and interplay with the role of knowledge in social relations. (...) While the knowledge produced by research and development in science and technology is accorded central focus, the authors also outline the changing dimensions of social scientific and humanities knowledge and the relations between the production of knowledge and its dissemination through education. Placing science policy and scientific knowledge within the broader context of contemporary society, this book will be essential reading for all those concerned with the changing nature of knowledge, with the social study of science, with educational systems, and with the correlation between research and development and social, economic, and technological development. "Thought-provoking in its identification of issues that are global in scope; for policy makers in higher education, government, or the commercial sector." --Choice "By their insightful identification of the recent social transformation of knowledge production, the authors have been able to assert new imperatives for policy institutions. The lessons of the book are deep." --Alexis Jacquemin, Universite Catholique de Louvain and Advisor, Foreign Studies Unit, European Commission "Should we celebrate the emergence of a 'post-academic' mode of postmodern knowledge production of the post-industrial society of the 21st Century? Or should we turn away from it with increasing fear and loathing as we also uncover its contradictions. A generation of enthusiasts and/or critics will be indebted to the team of authors for exposing so forcefully the intimate connections between all the cognitive, educational, organizational, and commercial changes that are together revolutionizing the sciences, the technologies, and the humanities. This book will surely spark off a vigorous and fruitful debate about the meaning and purpose of knowledge in our culture." --Professor John Ziman, (Wendy, Janey at Ltd. is going to provide affiliation. Contact if you don't hear from her.) "Jointly authored by a team of distinguished scholars spanning a number of disciplines, The New Production of Knowledge maps the changes in the mode of knowledge production and the global impact of such transformations. . . . The authors succeed . . . at sketching out, in very large strokes, the emerging trends in knowledge production and their implications for future society. The macro focus of the book is a welcome change from the micro obsession of most sociologists of science, who have pretty much deconstructed institutions and even scientific knowledge out of existence." --Contemporary Sociology "This book is a timely contribution to current discussion on the breakdown of and need to renegotiate the social contract between science and society that Vannevar Bush and likeminded architects of science policy constructed immediately after World War II. It goes far beyond the usual scattering of fragmentary insights into changing institutional landscapes, cognitive structures, or quality control mechanisms of present day science, and their linkages with society at large. Tapping a wide variety of sources, the authors provide a coherent picture of important new characteristics that, taken altogether, fundamentally challenge our traditional notions of what academic research is all about. This well-founded analysis of the social redistribution of knowledge and its associated power patterns helps articulate what otherwise tends to remain an--albeit widespread--intuition. Unless they adapt to the new situation, universities in the future will find the centers of gravity of knowledge production moving even further beyond their ken. Knowledge of the social and cognitive dynamics of science in research is much needed as a basis of science and technology policymaking. The New Production of Knowledge does a lot to fill this gap. Another unique feature is its discussion of the humanities, which are usually left out in works coming out of the social studies of science." --Aant Elzinga, University od Goteborg. (shrink)

Potterian bioethics plays a proactive role, when carried out in collaboration with multidisciplinary teams with a mandate to operationalize public policy, as highlighted in the Canadian Journal of Bioethics in 2022 where several articles on Van Rensselaer Potter’s thinking appeared on the 50th anniversary of the first publication of the term bioethics in the North American literature. This global perspective, which is still insufficiently detailed, critically reflects on the place, the role and the imperative of bioethics as an adaptive management (...) of the environment; and it aims to accompany empirical projects in the operation of their scientific, political and public visions, which are sometimes synergistic, and other times conflicting. In order to specify the operationalization of this global perspective of bioethics, it is pertinent to mobilize theoretical notions from sociology and philosophy of science, in particular the Latourian concept of Hybrid Forum and the Paradigm associated to Thomas Kuhn. To illustrate this, the argument presented here mobilizes the empirical case of a project to design a monitoring of antibiotic use in Quebec, Canada (2018-2022), and expands on the importance of being aware of context (technological, sociological and anthropological) in order to deepen and pose constructive criticism. This article presents an alternative perspective to the act of governing by proposing a proactive process of governance. (shrink)

Today’s organizations are operating in a highly competitive and changing environment ‎that ‎pushes them to adapt their organizational structures to such ‎environments continuously. ‎However, the ethical behavior of employees is considered a bridge to the organization’s success ‎, driven by positive beliefs. This study's purpose of examining the psychological and ethical ‎beliefs' that influence employees' behavior at the workplace through a literature review. This ‎paper uses two terms: "ethical beliefs” and “psychological beliefs.” They both ‎are different but can significantly influence (...) the behavior of employees. Positive psychological and ‎strong ethical beliefs drive ethical behaviors at the workplace, such as honesty, accountability, ‎fairness, responsibility, trust, and integrity, which lead to better performance, a productive team, and ‎positivity in the workplace. It helps to develop a professional relationship with employees, ‎effective communication, accountability, and professionalism at work. While negative ‎psychological and weak ethical beliefs drive unethical behavior, including taking credit for other ‎hard work, abuse, verbal harassment, violence, lack of ambitions and professionalism, theft, ‎corrupt practices, etc. Finally, the arguments demonstrate that some ethical beliefs are perceived ‎to be more objective and appropriate than psychological beliefs. The ethical beliefs of workers ‎considered more formal than psychological beliefs. ‎. (shrink)

There is growing need for hybrid curricula that integrate constructivist methods from Science and Technology Studies (STS) into both engineering and policy courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. However, institutional and disciplinary barriers have made implementing such curricula difficult at many institutions. While several programs have recently been launched that mix technical training with consideration of “societal” or “ethical issues,” these programs often lack a constructivist element, leaving newly-minted practitioners entering practical fields ill-equipped to unpack the politics of knowledge (...) and technology or engage with skeptical publics. This paper presents a novel format for designing interdisciplinary coursework that combines conceptual content from STS with training in engineering and policy. Courses following this format would ideally be team taught by instructors with advanced training in diverse fields, and hence co-learning between instructors and disciplines is a key element of the format. Several instruments for facilitating both student and instructor collaborative learning are introduced. The format is also designed for versatility: in addition to being adaptable to both technical and policy training environments, topics are modularized around a conceptual core so that issues ranging from biotech to nuclear security can be incorporated to fit programmatic needs and resources. (shrink)

The philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy that examines the profound philosophical questions that arise from scientific research and theories. A sub-discipline of philosophy that emerged in the twentieth century, the philosophy of science is largely a product of the British and Austrian schools of thought and traditions. The first in-depth reference in the field that combines scientific knowledge with philosophical inquiry, The Philosophy of Science: An Encyclopedia is a two-volume set that brings together an international team (...) of leading scholars to provide over 130 entries on the essential concepts in the philosophy of science. The areas covered include biology, chemistry, epistemology and metaphysics, physics, psychology and mind, the social sciences, and key figures in the combined studies of science and philosophy. Essays range in length from 3,000 to 7,500 words and represent the most up-to-date philosophical thinking on timeless scientific topics such as determinism, explanation, laws of nature, perception, individuality, time, and economics as well as timely topics like adaptation, conservation biology, quantum logic, consciousness, evolutionary psychology, and game theory. Offering thorough explorations and destined to become the most authoritative presentation of the field available, this Encyclopedia is a unique and groundbreaking guide to this fascinating field. (shrink)

Suddenly, COVID-19 has changed the world and the way people work. Companies had to accelerate something they knew was imminent in the future, but not immediate and extremely humongous. This situation poses a huge challenge for companies to survive and thrive in this complex business environment and for employees, who must adapt to this new way of working. An effective e-leadership, which promotes companies’ adaptability, is needed. This study investigates the existing knowledge on teleworking and e-leadership; and analyzes the supposed (...) challenges. The literature review shows that companies with effective e-leadership can view teleworking as an opportunity. It is advantageous for not only companies’ productivity but also the environment and people who work remotely. However, a traditional or no leadership can result in some risks. Thriving in remote work environments implies that managers must adjust the companies’ structure, making them less hierarchical, and developing new abilities to establish a strong and trustworthy relationship with their employees to maintain their competitiveness, while retaining a genuine concern for their employees’ well-being. Similarly, successful e-leadership must be able to consolidate and lead effective virtual teams to accomplish organizational goals. This study contributes to the literature and leaders during the pandemic. (shrink)

DesignAgility is an adaptation of the design thinking method and was developed to meet the specific needs of the publishing industry and the media sector in general. The authors of the eponymous book embedded DesignAgility into an agile framework that allows its users to effectively develop and implement media innovations with a small team. This sample chapter of the book focuses on Ideation and describes the qualified brainstorming and idea-generating in the innovation process. The needs of the users (...) aka the ‘personas’ are reflected in so-called ‘user stories’. Through refinement the ideas are developed into possible product or service features. The chapter describes detailed steps from preparation to procedure and includes a checklist of how to easily follow the instructions for ideation. The visualization of the DesignAgility process shows where this step has to be taken within the whole innovation process. (shrink)

This paper depicts a case study of an organizational strategy for the promotion of ethical practice when introducing a new, high-risk, ethically-charged medical practice like Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). We describe the development of an interprofessional program that enables the delivery of high-quality, whole-person MAiD care that is values-based and sustainable. A “care ecology” strategy recognizes the interconnected web of relationships and structures necessary to support a quality experience of MAiD for patients, families, and clinicians. This program exemplifies a (...) care ecology approach that addresses common barriers to entry to MAiD practice, and also meets the needs of a variety of stakeholders through the creation of patient and family resources, team supports, standards of practice, professional development opportunities, organizational infrastructure, and community partnerships. We also describe how a thriving care ecology evolves to remain resilient, and to enable integration as the needs of the organization, team and program change over time. The design and development of this program may be adapted to other jurisdictions and organizations where MAiD is introduced, or where new patient populations become eligible for MAiD. This care ecology model may also be applicable to the creation of sustainable programs that provide other morally controversial or novel clinical services. (shrink)

Niche construction refers to the activities of organisms that bring about changes in their environments, many of which are evolutionarily and ecologically consequential. Advocates of niche construction theory (NCT) believe that standard evolutionary theory fails to recognize the full importance of niche construction, and consequently propose a novel view of evolution, in which niche construction and its legacy over time (ecological inheritance) are described as evolutionary processes, equivalent in importance to natural selection. Here, we subject NCT to critical evaluation, in (...) the form of a collaboration between one prominent advocate of NCT, and a team of skeptics. We discuss whether niche construction is an evolutionary process, whether NCT obscures or clarifies how natural selection leads to organismal adaptation, and whether niche construction and natural selection are of equivalent explanatory importance. We also consider whether the literature that promotes NCT overstates the significance of niche construction, whether it is internally coherent, and whether it accurately portrays standard evolutionary theory. Our disagreements reflect a wider dispute within evolutionary theory over whether the neo-Darwinian synthesis is in need of reformulation, as well as different usages of some key terms (e.g., evolutionary process). (shrink)

Faced with multiple changes in education, teachers must adapt to the diversity of learner profiles now integrated into regular classes. Our study focuses on a two-pronged support system (group and individual) to support the professional development of school teachers. The creation of dialogical spaces has stimulated exchanges in addition of challenging ideas and values to build new benchmarks that guide the work. The results show that the support provided has encouraged the adoption of practices oriented towards inclusive education principles and (...) helped to develop a common vision within the school team. (shrink)

BackgroundIn childhood cancer care, healthcare professionals must deal with several difficult moral situations in clinical practice. Previous studies show that morally difficult challenges are related to decisions on treatment limitations, infringing on the child's integrity and growing autonomy, and interprofessional conflicts. Research also shows that healthcare professionals have expressed a need for clinical ethics support to help them deal with morally difficult situations. Moral case deliberations (MCDs) are one example of ethics support. The aim of this study was to describe (...) the MCD-related outcomes that healthcare professionals in childhood cancer care considered important, before MCDs were implemented, in order to facilitate the implementation of MCDs in childhood cancer care in Sweden.MethodsThis study is based on qualitative data. Healthcare professionals, mostly representing registered nurses, nursing assistants and physicians, working at childhood cancer care centres in Sweden, were invited to respond to the translated and content validated European MCD Outcomes Instrument, before participating in regular MCDs. Answers to the main open-ended question, included in the questionnaire, was analysed according to systematic text condensation.ResultsData was collected from 161 responses from the healthcare professionals. The responses included healthcare professionals’ perceptions of which MCD-related outcomes they found important for handling moral challenges. Three different themes of important outcomes from the analysis of the data are presented as follows:Interprofessional well-being in team interactionson a team level;Professional comfort when dealing with moral challengeson a personal level; andImproved quality of care for the child and the familyon a care level.ConclusionsHealthcare professionals in childhood cancer care considered it important that ethics support could enhance the well-being of interprofessional teams, support healthcare professionals on an individual level and improve quality of care. The results of this study can be used in current and future training for MCD-facilitators. When knowing the context specific important MCD-outcomes, the sessions could be adapted. Managers in childhood cancer care would benefit from knowing about the specific important outcomes for their target group because they could then create relevant working conditions for clinical ethics support. (shrink)

Interdisciplinary or team-taught courses pose special challenges and make special demands on the instructors. Yet they also offer special opportunities for learning—for instructor and student alike. This paper describes one such course taught at the University of Maryland by a historian (Kenneth Holum), an art historian (Elisabeth Pemberton), and a philosopher (James Lesher), focused on the art, politics, and philosophical environment of 5th-century Athens. Three themes emerged over the course of the semester: the centrality of the family in Athenian (...) society, the emergence of the individual as a new focus of interest in art and society, human nature as a new subject of study, and the phenomenon of cross-fertilization or ‘bi-sociation’ as the ideas developed in one field were adapted for use in other disciplines. For all their special burdens and challenges, courses such as this one can provide an opportunity to explore philosophical theorizing from a new perspective. (shrink)