Effect of group formation on performance, task management and social loafing

Engineering graduates of today are required to adapt to a rapidly changing work environment. In particular, they are expected to demonstrate enhanced capabilities in both mono-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary teamwork environments. Engineering education needs, as a result, to further focus on developing group work capabilities amongst engineering graduates. Over the last two years, the authors trialed various group work strategies across two engineering disciplines. In particular, the effect of group formation on students' performance, task management, and social loafing was analyzed. A recently developed online teamwork management tool, Teamworker, was used to collect students' experience of the group work. Analysis showed that students who were allowed to freely allocate to any group were less likely to report loafing from other team members, than students who were pre-allocated to a group. It also showed that performance was more affected by the presence or absence of a leader in pre-allocated rather than free-allocated groups.

Environmental management and wildlife in Queensland : a review of Queensland mammal species designated as scarce

From 19 authoritative lists with 164 entries of ‘endangered’ Australian mammal species, 39 species have been reported as extinct. When examined in the light of field conditions, the 18 of these species thought to be from Queensland consist of (a) species described from fragmentary museum material collected in the earliest days of exploration, (b) populations inferred to exist in Queensland by extrapolation from distribution records in neighbouring States or countries, (c) inhabitants of remote and harsh locations where search effort is extraordinarily difficult (especially in circumstances of drought or flooding). and/or (d) individuals that are clearly transitory or peripheral in distribution. ‘Rediscovery’ of such scarce species - a not infrequent occurrence - is nowadays attracting increasing attention. Management in respect of any scarce wildlife in Queensland presently derives from such official lists. The analyses here indicate that this method of prioritizing action needs review. This is especially so because action then tends to be centred on species chosen out of the lists for populist reasons and that mostly addresses Crown lands. There is reason to believe that the preferred management may lie private lands where casual observation has provided for rediscovery and where management is most desirable and practicable.

Implementing an employee performance management system in a nonprofit organization

Nonprofit organizations are not exempt from the imperatives of employee attraction, retention, and motivation. As competition for staff, donors, and funding increases, the need to manage employee performance will continue to be a critical human resource management issue. This article outlines a study of the introduction of a performance management system in an Australian nonprofit organization and analyzes its design and implementation. It explores how performance management can be introduced and used effectively within a nonprofit environment to benefit staff and the organization. However, the use of performance management is not without its challenges, and the research also identified initial employee resistance and a resulting initial spike in labor turnover. However, findings indicate that if nonprofit organizations are willing to undertake consultation with staff and ensure that the organization's specific context, values, and mission are reflected in the performance management system, it can be a useful tool for managers and a direct benefit to employees.

Developing a knowledge base for enterprise system success: the role of management and operational staff

Knowledge base is one of the emerging concepts in the Knowledge Management area. As there exists no agreed- upon standard definition of a knowledge base, this paper defines a knowledge base in terms of our research of Enterprise Systems (ES). The knowledge base is defined with reference to Learning Network Theory. Using this theoretical framework, we investigate the roles of management and operational staff in organisations and how their interactions can create a better ES-knowledge base to contribute to ES success. We focus on the post- implementation phase of ES as part of the ES lifecycle. Our findings will facilitate future research directions and contribute to better understandings of how the knowledge base can be integrated and how this integration leads to Enterprise System success.

Management and engineering of process aware information systems : introduction to the special issue

In this editorial letter, we provide the readers of Information Systems with a birds-eye introduction to Process-aware Information Systems (PAIS) – a sub-field of Information Systems that has drawn growing attention in the past two decades, both as an engineering and as a management discipline. Against this backdrop, we briefly discuss how the papers included in this special issue contribute to extending the body of knowledge in this field.

The contribution of leadership attributes to large scale, complex project success

Mismanagement of large-scale, complex projects has resulted in spectacular failures, cost overruns, time blowouts, and stakeholder dissatisfaction. We focus discussion on the interaction of key management and leadership attributes which facilitate leaders’ adaptive behaviors. These behaviors should in turn influence adaptive team member behavior, stakeholder engagement and successful project outcomes, outputs and impacts. An understanding of this type of management will benefit from a perspective based in managerial and organizational cognition. The research question we explore is whether successful leaders of large-scale complex projects have an internal process leading to a display of administrative, adaptive, and enabling behaviors that foster adaptive processes and enabling behaviors within their teams and with external stakeholders. At the core of the model we propose interactions of key attributes, namely cognitive flexibility, affect, and emotional intelligence. The result of these cognitive-affective attribute interactions is leadership leading to enhanced likelihood of complex project success.

Weight management and its role in breast cancer rehabilitation

Overweight and obesity are risk factors for post-menopausal breast cancer, and many women diagnosed with breast cancer, irrespective of menopausal status, gain weight after diagnosis. Weight management plays an important role in rehabilitation and recovery since obesity and/or weight gain may lead to poorer breast cancer prognosis, as well as prevalent co-morbid conditions (e.g. cardiovascular disease and diabetes), poorer surgical outcomes (e.g., increased operating and recovery times, higher infection rates, and poorer healing), lymphedema, fatigue, functional decline, and poorer health and overall quality of life. Health care professionals should encourage weight management at all phases of the cancer care continuum as a means to potentially avoid adverse sequelae and late effects, as well as to improve overall health and possibly survival. Comprehensive approaches that involve dietary and behavior modification, and increased aerobic and strength training exercise have shown promise in either preventing weight gain or promoting weight loss, reducing biomarkers associated with inflammation and co-morbidity, and improving lifestyle behaviors, functional status, and quality of life in this high-risk patient population.

Knowledge management and Dublin Core

This paper is concerned with investigating existing and potential scope of Dublin Core metadata in Knowledge Management contexts. Modelling knowledge is identified as a conceptual prerequisite in this investigation, principally for the purpose of clarifying scope prior to identifying the range of tasks associated with organising knowledge. A variety of models is presented and relationships between data, information, and knowledge discussed. It is argued that the two most common modes of organisation, hierarchies and networks, influence the effectiveness and flow of knowledge. Practical perspective is provided by reference to implementations and projects providing evidence of how DC metadata is applied in such contexts. A sense-making model is introduced that can be used as a shorthand reference for identifying useful facets of knowledge that might be described using metadata. Discussion is aimed at presenting this model in a way that both validates current applications and points to potential novel applications.

The nonprofit board as a team : pilot results and initial insights

There is a growing desire for boards of nonprofits to deliver better governance to the organizations they control. Consequently, self-evaluation has become an important tool for nonprofit boards to meet these expectations and demonstrate that they are discharging their responsibilities effectively. This article describes initial results aimed at developing a psychometrically sound, survey-based board evaluation instrument, based on the Team Development Survey (TDS), that assesses the team attributes of an organization’s board. Our results indicate that while constructs applicable to teams generally appear to apply to boards, there are also important differences. We highlight how a perception of board objective clarity, appropriate skills mix, resource availability, and psychological safety were positively and significantly associated with measures of board, management and organizational performance.

Unpacking the connections between network and stakeholder management and their application to road infrastructure networks in Queensland

Since the late twentieth century, there has been a shift away from delivery of infrastructure, including road networks, exclusively by the state. Subsequently, a range of alternative delivery models including governance networks have emerged. However, little is known about how connections between these networks and their stakeholders are created, managed or sustained. Using an analytical framework based on a synthesis of theories of network and stakeholder management, three cases in road infrastructure in Queensland, Australia are examined. The paper finds that although network management can be used to facilitate stakeholder engagement, such activities in the three cases are mainly focused within the core network of those most directly involved with delivery of the infrastructure often to the exclusion of other stakeholder groups.