scholarly journals Team Role Adoption and Distribution in Engineering Project Meetings

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Nestsiarovich ◽  
Dirk Pons

Team communication plays a vital role in engineering management, however, there is a paucity of work that examines how team roles emerge as a response to the communicative processes between participants. This research explored role adoption using qualitative methods comprising observations, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Five student teams doing final year projects at a university in New Zealand were observed during the academic year and then interviewed at the final stage of project completion. A number of team roles in the engineering context were identified for students and their supervisors: Explorer; Initiator; Facilitator; Active and Passive Information Provider; Outsider; Active and Passive Connector; Passive Collector; Arbitrator; Gatekeeper and Representative. Personal factors, such as social sensitivity, were correlated with the choice of team behaviour pattern. In addition, the team roles could be arranged in circular order to create a circumplex, the two axes of which were identified as Personal Agency/Communion and Social engagement/Social disengagement.

Accurate pronunciation has a vital role in English language learning as it can help learners to avoid misunderstanding in communication. However, EFL learners in many contexts, especially at the University of Phan Thiet, still encounter many difficulties in pronouncing English correctly. Therefore, this study endeavors to explore English-majored students’ perceptions towards the role of pronunciation in English language learning and examine their pronunciation practicing strategies (PPS). It involved 155 English-majored students at the University of Phan Thiet who answered closed-ended questionnaires and 18 English-majored students who participated in semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that students strongly believed in the important role of pronunciation in English language learning; however, they sometimes employed PPS for their pronunciation improvement. Furthermore, the results showed that participants tended to use naturalistic practicing strategies and formal practicing strategies with sounds, but they overlooked strategies such as asking for help and cooperating with peers. Such findings could contribute further to the understanding of how students perceive the role of pronunciation and their PPS use in the research’s context and other similar ones. Received 10th June 2019; Revised 12th March 2020; Accepted 12th April 2020


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Durst ◽  
Ingi Runar Edvardsson ◽  
Guido Bruns

Studies on knowledge creation are limited in general, and there is a particular shortage of research on the topic in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Given the importance of SMEs for the economy and the vital role of knowledge creation in innovation, this situation is unsatisfactory. Accordingly, the purpose of our study is to increase our understanding of how SMEs create new knowledge. Data are obtained through semi-structured interviews with ten managing directors of German SMEs operating in the building and construction industry. The findings demonstrate the influence of external knowledge sources on knowledge creation activities. Even though the managing directors take advantage of different external knowledge sources, they seem to put an emphasis on informed knowledge sources. The study´s findings advance the limited body of knowledge regarding knowledge creation in SMEs.


Author(s):  
Ben Toscher

The majority of learning in arts entrepreneurship education is experiential (Essig & Guevara, 2016). Experiential and entrepreneurial learning theories indicate that to facilitate entrepreneurial knowledge generation which “enables [entrepreneurs] to recognize and act on entrepreneurial opportunities and to organize and manage new ventures” (Politis, 2005, p. 400), individuals need to exercise personal agency and engage in explorative behavior (Kolb & Kolb, 2009; Politis, 2005). If arts entrepreneurship education is to help students generate such entrepreneurial knowledge, arts entrepreneurship educators should create learning environments in which their students can exercise personal agency and behave exploratively. Despite this, how students exercise personal agency and explore within arts entrepreneurship education has not been empirically studied. This empirical paper attempts to answer the following question: How do students explore and exercise personal agency in arts entrepreneurship education? Using rigor to systematically analyze qualitative data (Gioia et al., 2013) from a five-week course in entrepreneurship in higher music education to produce a data structure and model, I find that within a teacher-created learning environment, students balance personal factors (their values and beliefs, habitual modes of thought, prior experience and personal goals) against social factors (social interdependencies and conditions of approval) while taking actions to reduce uncertainty. The findings imply that teacher-created learning environments and engagement in social contexts influences how students exercise personal agency and explore.  


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline S.L. Tan

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine psychological ownership (PO) experienced by followers of social media influencers toward both influencer and the product. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected using face-to-face semi-structured interviews that were conducted with 30 respondents and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings The study demonstrated that the PO experienced by the follower changes under different conditions resulting from perceived value, social currency and follower activity. Social currency plays a vital role in determining the target of PO, often affecting the narrative by the follower. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the transference of PO between product and influencer as experienced by the follower. It provides an understanding on PO that is experienced in different levels of intensity and changes depending on the motive of the follower; hence, transference of PO occurs and it is not a static.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Sobolewski

The important mediating influence of Coach Educators (CEs) delivering a programme of learning has been largely ignored in research seeking to find the key to effective CPD. This paper aims to bring CEs to the fore by reporting the experiences of 7 CEs and 2 Programme Managers delivering a sport National Governing Body coach development programme. Qualitative data were collected via semi-structured interviews and interpreted through the theoretical lens of relational interdependence (Billett, 2008) using a retroductive research strategy. The findings identified the subjective and idiosyncratic processes through which CEs developed their understanding of the programme resulting in individual differences in construal. The high degree of workplace affordance gave CEs autonomy to deploy their personal agency and intentionality to shape practice leading to wide variations in CPD delivery. The results suggest the subjectivity of CEs can have a potentially significant impact on the fidelity of the programme being delivered.


Author(s):  
Razieh Zahedi ◽  
Leila Nemati-Anaraki ◽  
Shahram Sedghi ◽  
Mamak Shariat

Background & Aim: Patient decision aids are detailed and personalized health education materials that assist patients in decision making. According to expert viewpoints, this study aimed to determine important factors in implementing the prenatal screening decision aid in Iran. Methods & Materials: In this qualitative study, 24 experts, including seven obstetricians, four information scientists, five managers or policymakers, and eight midwives, were selected using purposive and snowball sampling approaches. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect the data between January 2020 and June 2020 in Tehran, Iran. A prenatal screening decision aid was presented to the participants, and we asked them to raise their concerns and thoughts regarding the factors influencing the implementation of patient decision aids. We used MAXQDA 10 and applied conventional content analysis for data analysis. Results: Two organizational and personal factors themes were identified to implement Iran's prenatal screening decision aids. Conclusion: We identified the viewpoints of experts regarding major factors in patient decision aids implementation for prenatal screening. Before implementing prenatal screening decision aids in Iran, it would be helpful to consider these organizational and personal factors. Prenatal screening decision aids can provide better information for pregnant women and strengthen their decision-making ability.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anas Atef Shamaileh

Purpose The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic in the late 2019 was accompanied by various consequences that included almost the entire life aspects worldwide. To cope with the pandemic, imposing restricted measures was required, such as quarantine, lockdown and social distancing. The purpose of this paper is to identify the houses' interior designs responses in Jordan under Covid-19 Pandemic. Design/methodology/approach Under such conditions, people have to spend long periods inside their houses. This issue highlighted the importance and the vital role of houses interior design in meeting the various needs of residents under emergent and changing conditions. Findings This study revealed current and future responses that may be implemented to cope with the pandemic consequences in terms of houses’ interior design. Moreover, a conceptual model was proposed. Number of suggestions and further research were introduced considering the revealed findings. Originality/value This study aimed at identifying the houses’ interior design responses in Jordan under COVID-19 pandemic. The study methodology adopted both inductive and qualitative approaches to achieve its goals. Under the qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were undertaken by interviewing ten interior designers and academics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Heba Sadek

This research aims to extend the knowledge of social media advertising by providing a deep understanding of the elements of social networking sites advertising (SNS ad) effectiveness that help create favorable users' responses via their attitude toward empathy expression in the Egyptian context. Qualitative research was developed. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted which were analyzed by using thematic analysis. Findings indicate that the crucial elements that generate an effective SNS ad in Egypt particularly on Facebook are the advertising creativity and simplicity, followed by the advertising entertainment specifically the emotional appeal of joy, the interactivity, the clear information, and the trustworthiness derived from users' generated content. These elements influence on users' attitude toward empathy expression and lead to favorable users' responses. Additionally, it has been found that brand loyalty plays a vital role on influencing users' responses. Based on these findings, this research offers implications and proposes further research directions.


BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. e030208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Billie Lever Taylor ◽  
Jo Billings ◽  
Nicola Morant ◽  
Debra Bick ◽  
Sonia Johnson

ObjectivesPartners and wider family members play a vital role in relation to women’s perinatal mental health. Clinical guidelines in the UK and internationally recommend that services supporting women with perinatal mental health difficulties involve and support their families too. However, little is known about family members’ needs and experiences, or whether they feel included by mental health services. This study set out to explore this.MethodsThis research formed part of a wider study exploring experiences of perinatal mental health care in England. The broader study included semi-structured interviews with 52 women across England who received treatment for a perinatal mental health difficulty, and 32 family members identified by the women as offering them some support. Data from these 84 interviews relating to how services work with partners and families were extracted and analysed thematically.ResultsAnalysis identified three overarching themes: (1) the centrality of women’s families to their perinatal mental health/access to support, (2) experiences of partners and families being excluded by services and (3) ambivalence among women and their families about increasing family involvement/support. We found that partners and families appear to have an important influence on women’s perinatal mental health, access to care and interactions with services, but that services tend to focus on individual women (and babies) with little regard for their wider family context. The complexity of involving and supporting partners and families, coupled with anxiety about this among women and their families, reinforces the tendency to marginalise them.ConclusionInvolving women’s families and providing the support they need is challenging, but important. Experiences of women and their families of services treating perinatal mental health difficulties suggests greater focus is needed on overcoming barriers to family inclusion and on challenging underlying gender roles and expectations, rather than allowing these to shape and guide practice.


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