Social intelligence and top management team: an exploratory study of external knowledge acquisition for strategic change in global IT service providers in India

This paper focuses on the processes by which firms, particularly knowledge intensive firms, can augment their overall knowledge stock by tapping into external sources of knowledge. It is argued that Top Management Teams' (TMTs') social intelligence is a critical learning capability in acquiring external knowledge that leads to strategic change. Social intelligence involves social awareness, social understanding and social skills. The study draws from the experience of 11 of the largest Information Technology Service Providers (ITSPs) in India and based on in-depth interviews. The findings show that TMTs' learning capability in the context of social intelligence to interact with external stakeholders is important to ITSPs in facilitating external knowledge acquisition and allowing new knowledge emerge within and across networks. The findings provide significant insights into ITSPs emerging in other developing countries such as in China. Research limitation and future research direction are also provided.

How social is the virtual design studio? A case study of a third year design studio

With the advent of social networks, it became apparent that the social aspect of designing and learning plays a crucial role in students’ education. Technologies and skills are the base on which learners interact. The ease of communication, leadership opportunity, democratic interaction, teamwork, and the sense of community are some of the aspects that are now in the centre of design interaction. The paper examines Virtual Design Studios (VDS) that used media-rich platforms and analyses the influence the social aspect plays in solving all problems on the sample of a design studio at Deakin University. It studies the effectiveness of the generated social intelligence and explores the facilitation of students’ self-directed learning. Hereby the paper studies the construction of knowledge via social interaction and how blended learning environments foster motivation and information exchange. It presents its finding based on VDS that were held over the past three years.

Virtual design studio via social networks

With the advent of social networks, it became apparent that the social aspect of designing and learning plays a crucial role in students’ education. The ease of communication, leadership opportunity, democratic interaction, teamwork, and the sense of community are some of the aspects that are now in the centre of design interaction. Online interactions, multimedia, mobile computing and face-to-face learning create blended learning environments to which some Virtual Design Studios (VDS) have reacted. On the sample of a design studio at Deakin University the paper discusses details of the Social Network VDS, its pedagogical implications to PBL, and presents how it is successful in empowering architectural students to collaborate and communicate design proposals that integrate a variety of skills, deep learning, and construction of knowledge. It studies the effectiveness of the generated social intelligence and explores the facilitation of students’ self-directed learning. Hereby the paper studies the construction of knowledge via social interaction and how blended learning environments foster motivation and information exchange.

A framework for social networked architectural education

Students engage in Social Networks (SN) as a form of interaction with friends and tutors, as news or learning resource, to make their voices heard or to listen to other views and many more. Online SN work in close association with offline SN to form a blended social environment that greatly enables and enhances students' learning. Some Schools of Architecture have struggled or failed to engage in the potential of SN or their respective University's online Learning Management Systems (LMS). Despite efforts to facilitate blended learning environments or to engage students in problem-based learning activities architectural education often fails to tap into the rich resources that online social learning environments offers through their collective and social intelligence of its users. This paper proposes a framework for SN architectural education that provides opportunities for linking the academic LMS with private or professional SN such that it enhances the learning experience and deepens the knowledge of the students. The paper proposes ways of utilising SN supported learning environments in other areas of the curriculum and concludes with directions of how this framework can be employed in professional settings.

Refinement and validation of the Work Readiness Scale for graduate nurses.

The transition from student to registered nurse is often stressful and has been attributed to a lack of work readiness. Understanding what comprises work readiness for newly registered nurses, or graduate nurses as they are referred to in Australia, may reduce attrition and improve transition into the workplace. The 64-item Work Readiness Scale (WRS), developed with a generic population of graduates, has yet to be validated against specific disciplines to confirm applicability as a measure of work readiness. This study adapted the original WRS for use with a graduate nurse population (WRS-GN). The aim was to refine and validate the WRS-GN and determine whether the original four factor construct was supported. The WRS-GN was completed by 450 graduate nurses. Exploratory factor analyses supported the original four-factor solution (social intelligence, personal work characteristics, organizational acumen, and work competence). The final WRS-GN consisted of 46 items, showed excellent reliability, and explained 73.55% of the variance.

Understanding the role of social media monitoring in generating external intelligence

Social media data are becoming increasingly critical for businesses to capture, analyse, and utilise in a timely manner. However, the unstructured and distributed nature and volume of this information makes the task of extracting useful and practical information challenging. Given the dynamic evolution of social media and social media monitoring, our current understanding of how social media monitoring can help organisations to create business value is inadequate. As a result, there is a need to study how organisations can (a) extract and analyse social media data related to their business (Sensing), and (b) utilise external intelligence gained from social media monitoring for specific business initiatives (Seizing). This study uses a qualitative approach with a multiple embedded case study design to understand the phenomenon of social media monitoring and its outcome for organisations. Anticipated contributions are presented.

Cognitive cultural intelligence and life satisfaction of migrant workers: the roles of career engagement and social injustice

This paper examines the mediating effect of career engagement on the relationship between cognitive cultural intelligence (CQ) and life satisfaction among international migrant workers in Australia. It also examines the moderating effect of perceived social injustice on the cognitive CQ–career engagement relationship, as well as on the indirect cognitive CQ–life satisfaction relationship via career engagement. Using survey data from four hundred and sixty-two migrant workers in Australia, it was found that cognitive CQ was positively related to life satisfaction and that career engagement mediated this relationship. Social injustice moderated the impact of cognitive CQ on career engagement such that the impact was stronger among those perceiving a higher rather than a lower level of social injustice. Furthermore, the indirect effect of cognitive CQ on life satisfaction via career engagement was also stronger for those perceiving higher social injustice. These findings provide new insights regarding the antecedents of life satisfaction as well as reveal a vocationally relevant mechanism underlying the relationship between cognitive CQ and life satisfaction. The results inform potential practical strategies to enhance the career progression and life satisfaction of international migrant workers.

Investing in intelligence : an inquiry into educational paradigm change

In this philosophical and practical-critical inquiry, I address two significant and closely related problems - whether and how those involved in the enterprise of education conceptualise a need for educational change, and the observed resistance of school cultures to change efforts. I address the apparent lack of a clear, coherent and viable theory of learning, agency and change, capable of making explicit the need, substantive nature and means of educational change. Based on a meta-analysis of numerous theories and perspectives on human knowing, learning, intelligence, agency and change, I synthesise a 'Dynamic Paradigm of Learning and Change', characterised by fifteen Constructs. I argue that this more viable Paradigm is capable of informing both design and critique of systemic curriculum and assessment policies, school organisation and planning models, professional learning and pedagogical practice, and student learning and action. The Dynamic Paradigm of Learning and Change contrasts with the assumptions reflected in the prevailing culture of institutionalised education, and I argue that dominant views of knowledge and human agency are both theoretically and practically non-viable and unsustainable. I argue that the prevailing culture and experience of schooling contributes to the formation of assumptions, identities, dispositions and orientations to the world characterised by alienation. The Dynamic Paradigm of Learning and Change also contrasts with the assumptions reflected in some educational reform efforts recently promoted at system level in Queensland, Australia. I use the Dynamic Paradigm as the reference point for a formal critique of two influential reform programs, Authentic Pedagogy and the New Basics Project, identifying significant limitations in both the conceptualisation of educational ends and means, and the implementation of these reform agendas. Within the Dynamic Paradigm of Learning and Change, knowledge and learning serve the individual's need for more adaptive or viable functioning in the world. I argue that students' attainment of knowledge of major ways in which others in our culture organise experience (interpret the world) is a legitimate goal of schooling. However, it is more viable to think of the primary function of schooling as providing for the young inspiration, opportunities and support for purposeful doing, and for assisting them in understanding the processes of 'action scheme' change to make such doing more viable. Through the practical-critical components of the inquiry, undertaken in the context of the ferment of pedagogical and curricular discussion and exploration in Queensland between 1999 and 2003, I develop the Key Abilities Model and associated guidelines and resources relating to forms of pedagogy, curriculum organisation and assessment consistent with the Dynamic Paradigm of Learning and Change. I argue the importance of showing teachers why and how their existing visions and conceptions of learning and teaching may be inadequate, and of emphasising teachers' conceptions of learning, knowing, agency and teaching, and their identities, dispositions and orientations to the world, as things that might need to change, in order to realise the intent of educational change focused on transformational student outcomes serving both the individual and collective good. A recommendation is made for implementation and research of a school-based trial of the Key Abilities Model, informed by and reflecting the Dynamic Paradigm of Learning and Change, as an important investment in the development and expression of ‘authentic' human intelligence.

From design for ecologically sustainability to facilities management through building intelligence and knowledge management

Ecological sustainability basically concerns environmental protection and social benefits. An ecologically sustainable development is based upon reduced energy usage, increased efficiency, and upheld social responsibility; and it should be properly evaluated by financial, environmental and social aspects. Council House 2 (CH2) is claimed to change the way of Australia approaches in ecologically sustainable design and construction. This is the ‘Six-Star design and built’ green star facility assessed by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), and the 10-story city council building was completed and opened in 2006, totally A$11.3 million was invested for the sustainability features. CH2 protects the environment, when it compares with the old council house, and is expected to reduce electricity consumption by 85%; reduce gas consumption by 87%; produce only 13% of the emissions; and reduce water mains supply by 72%. In this paper, the author examines its design reports and the researches paper, in the form of knowledge base, to case-study how the sustainability, effectiveness and efficiency of CH2 work. By leveraging the existing CH2 sustainability knowledge, design and building professions can learn and imitate it in further ‘green’ design without ‘re-inventing the wheel’; facilities executives can also use the existing knowledge to identify steps to boost up the facilities’ operating efficiency.

Lost in translation? Emotional intelligence, affective economies, leadership and organizational change

Not until the late 1990s did the rational/emotional binary embedded in mainstream literature on educational leadership and management come under challenge. Now the emotional dimensions of organisational change and leadership are widely recognised in the leadership, organisational change and school improvement literature. However, the dissolution of the binary did not draw from feminist social theory, critical organisational theory, the sociology of emotions or critical pedagogy. Instead, the strongest influence in educational leadership and administration has been from psychological theory, management theory and brain science, mobilised particularly through Goleman's notion of emotional intelligence. This article undertakes a feminist deconstruction of two texts: one from organisational theory by Goleman and the other on educational leadership and school improvement, in order to explore how ‘emotion’ has been translated into educational leadership. As a counterpoint, I identify the gaps and silences, appropriations and marginalisation identified from feminist perspectives. I argue that the emotional labour of teaching and leading cannot be individualised because emotion is both relational and contextual.

Towards discovery of influence and personality traits through social link prediction

Estimation of a person’s influence and personality traits from social media data has many applications. We use social linkage criteria, such as number of followers and friends, as proxies to form corpora, from popular blogging site Livejournal, for examining two two-class classification problems: influential vs. non-influential, and extraversion vs. introversion. Classification is performed using automatically-derived psycholinguistic and mood-based features of a user’s textual messages. We experiment with three sub-corpora of 10000 users each, and present the most effective predictors for each category. The best classification result, at 80%, is achieved using psycholinguistic features; e.g., influentials are found to use more complex language, than non-influentials, and use more leisure-related terms.

A sentiment-aware approach to community formation in social media

Participating in a community exemplifies the aspect of sharing, networking and interacting in a social media system. There has been extensive work on characterising on-line communities by their contents and tags using topic modelling tools. However, the role of sentiment and mood has not been studied. Arguably, mood is an integral feature of a text, and becomes more significant in the context of social media: two communities might discuss precisely the same topics, yet within an entirely different atmosphere. Such sentiment-related distinctions are important for many kinds of analysis and applications, such as community recommendation. We present a novel approach to identification of latent hyper-groups in social communities based on users’ sentiment. The results show that a sentiment-based approach can yield useful insights into community formation and metacommunities, having potential applications in, for example, mental health—by targeting support or surveillance to communities with negative mood—or in marketing—by targeting customer communities having the same sentiment on similar topics.

Effect of mood, social connectivity and age in online depression community via topic and linguistic analysis

Depression afflicts one in four people during their lives. Several studies have shown that for the isolated and mentally ill, the Web and social media provide effective platforms for supports and treatments as well as to acquire scientific, clinical understanding of this mental condition. More and more individuals affected by depression join online communities to seek for information, express themselves, share their concerns and look for supports [12]. For the first time, we collect and study a large online depression community of more than 12,000 active members from Live Journal. We examine the effect of mood, social connectivity and age on the online messages authored by members in an online depression community. The posts are considered in two aspects: what is written (topic) and how it is written (language style). We use statistical and machine learning methods to discriminate the posts made by bloggers in low versus high valence mood, in different age categories and in different degrees of social connectivity. Using statistical tests, language styles are found to be significantly different between low and high valence cohorts, whilst topics are significantly different between people whose different degrees of social connectivity. High performance is achieved for low versus high valence post classification using writing style as features. The finding suggests the potential of using social media in depression screening, especially in online setting.

Social network analysis and small group ‘dark’ networks: an analysis of the London bombers and the problem of ‘fuzzy’ boundaries

Social network analysis (SNA) is believed to be capable of revealing significant insights into crime and terror groups, including identifying important individuals and unique approaches to disruption. However, SNA has a number of theoretical and practical limitations, particularly when applied to ‘dark’ networks. While most analysts certainly acknowledge at least some of these limitations, we need to know more about their potential impact in a crime intelligence context. This article aims to go some way towards that end by placing greater scrutiny on the problem of ‘fuzzy boundaries’ when applied to small group networks. SNA is applied to the groups responsible for the 7 July 2005 London bombings and the 21 July 2005 attempted London bombings. The article concludes that while SNA is a valuable tool for understanding crime and terror groups, the age-old problem of fuzzy boundaries can have a profound impact on the analysis of small dynamic networks.