A social identity theory of leadership

A social identity theory of leadership is described that views leadership as a group process generated by social categorization and prototype-based depersonalization processes associated with social identity. Group identification, as self-categorization, constructs an intragroup prototypicality gradient that invests the most prototypical member with the appearance of having influence; the appearance arises because members cognitively and behaviorally conform to the prototype. The appearance of influence becomes a reality through depersonalized social attraction processes that make followers agree and comply with the leader's ideas and suggestions. Consensual social attraction also imbues the leader with apparent status and creates a status-based structural differentiation within the group into leader(s) and followers, which has characteristics of unequal status intergroup relations. In addition, a fundamental attribution process constructs a charismatic leadership personality for the leader, which further empowers the leader and sharpens the leader-follower status differential. Empirical support for the theory is reviewed and a range of implications discussed, including intergroup dimensions, uncertainty reduction and extremism, power, and pitfalls of prototype-based leadership.

Social structure in migrating humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae)

Although largely solitary, humpback whales exhibit a number of behaviours where individuals co-operate with one another, for example during bubble net feeding. Such cases could be due to reciprocal altruism brought on by exceptional circumstances, for example the presence of abundant shoaling fish. An alternative explanation is that these behaviours have evolved through kin selection. With little restriction to either communication or movement, diffuse groups of relatives could maintain some form of social organization without the need to travel in tight-nit units. To try to distinguish between these hypotheses, we took advantage of the fact that migrating humpback whales often swim together in small groups. If kin selection is important in humpback whale biology, these groups should be enriched for relatives. Consequently, we analysed biopsy samples from 57 groups of humpback whales migrating off Eastern Australia in 1992. A total of 142 whales were screened for eight microsatellite markers. Mitochondrial DNA sequences (371 bp) were also used to verify and assist kinship identification. Our data add support to the notion that mothers travel with their offspring for the first year of the calf's life. However, beyond the presence of mother-calf/yearling pairs, no obvious relatedness pattern was found among whales sampled either in the same pod or on the same day. Levels of relatedness did not vary between migratory phases (towards or away from the breeding ground), nor between the two sexes considered either overall or in the north or south migrations separately. These findings suggest that, if any social organization does exist, it is formed transiently when needed rather than being a constant feature of the population, and hence is more likely based on reciprocal altruism than kin selection.

An e-marketplace of healthcare and social care services: the perceived interest

Purpose – The health and social care sector is receiving growing attention due to the increased life expectancy and to the public demand for a better quality of life and better health services. New cost-efficient approaches are required, and the paper aims to present and discuss the main results of a study undertaken in a Portuguese municipality on the perceived relevance of an e-marketplace of social and healthcare services for the inhabitants in general, and for people with special needs in particular, and the identification of the most relevant services to be offered through this platform. Design/methodology/approach – A wide survey was undertaken to identify the needs of potential users and their expectancies with relation to the proposed platform. The results of the study are a support for the project promoters to understand the viability of the solution and the requirements to the deployment of the pilot experiment, as well as to drive the selection of domains of activities/classes of services to be offered by the platform. Findings – Services such as information about healthcare services, home monitoring/accompanying services 24 hours per day, and personal hygiene services provided at home are the ones recognized by the inquired citizens as the most important, which indicates that the potential users will be mostly people with special needs or their family or caregivers. Originality/value – While still at a preliminary development phase, the project represents a good opportunity to develop a totally innovative service with high potential impact for the senior population and for individuals with special needs.

An e-marketplace of healthcare and social care services: the perceived interest

The health and social care sector is receiving growing attention for the last years, due to the increased life expectancy, the public demand for a better quality of life and for better health services. These requirements can be met with more cost-efficient approaches and using new technology-based solutions for providing services. The paper presents and discusses some of the main results of a study undertaken in Guimarães, a Municipality at the North of Portugal, on the perceived relevance of an e-Marketplace of social and healthcare services for the inhabitants in general, and in particular for people with special needs; the study also included the identification of the most relevant services to be offered by this platform and allowed concluding that such an e-Marketplace is of recognized relevance and that it is expected a good adhesion from the population.

The perceived potential of business social networking sites

Business social networking is a facilitator of several business activities, such as market studies, communication with clients, and identification of business partners. This paper traduces the results of a study undertaken with the purpose of getting to know how the potential of networking is perceived in the promotion of business by participants of the LinkedIn network, and presents two main contributions: (1) to disseminate within the business community which is the relevance given to social networking; and (2) which are the social networks best suitable to the promotion of business, to support the definition of strategies and approaches accordingly. The results confirm that LinkedIn is the most suitable network to answer the needs of those that look for professional contacts and for the promotion of business, while innovation is the most recognized factor in the promotion of business through social networking. This study contributes to a better understanding of the potential of different business social networking sites, to support organizations and professionals to align their strategies with the perceived potential of each network.

Diversidade ética e exclusão social no processo da consolidação da unidade nacional : o caso dos vendedores e vendedoras informais do Mercado de Estrela Vermelha : cidade de Maputo

O presente trabalho, estuda as relações sociais e interculturais dos vendedores informais do mercado de Estrela Vermelha- cidade de Maputo. Analisa os fatores que afetam a unidade nacional, entendida como o sentido de pertença a uma identidade e a um destino comuns. Há duas teses que explicam a crise da unidade nacional. A primeira argumenta que o que coloca em causa a unidade nacional é a pretensão de se querer construir uma nação cívica, excluindo e até mesmo hostilizando as identidades étnicas vistas como fator de divisão e de conflitos. Propõe por isso, o reconhecimento e a inclusão dos diferentes grupos étnicos no poder (Magode, 1996; Cahen, 1996; Lundin, 1996). Na segunda, argumenta-se que as etnias perderam a sua relevância em virtude das transformações sociopolíticas e económicas havidas no país (Castiano, 2010), ou como outros defendem, que objetivamente elas não existem, se não apenas como reflexo dos conflitos pelo acesso aos recursos e poder (Serra, 1996). Sendo assim, o obstáculo da unidade nacional são as desigualdades económicas e não as diferenças étnicas. Mediante o trabalho de observação, que incluiu entrevistas, conversas, descrição e fotografias, como técnicas de recolha de dados, combinado com a pesquisa documental, este trabalho argumenta que, existe no mercado uma convivência multicultural, mas regista-se ainda défice nas relações interculturais. Os vendedores do Sul, consideram-se culturalmente superiores em relação aos seus colegas do norte do Save. Tal como outras pessoas da região sul, estes vendedores tratam os seus colegas pelo termo xingondo, que além da simples identificação, é usado para desqualificar os seus colegas do norte. Assim, o silêncio em relação ao etnocentrismo das pessoas do sul, a timidez que ainda se verifica em relação ao uso oficial das línguas moçambicanas, que são o meio de comunicação mais usado, bem como a incipiente provisão dos direitos da cidadania, constituem os principais obstáculos à unidade nacional. O estudo termina propondo a operacionalização do conceito da unidade nacional, tendo em conta, por um lado o respeito pelas diferenças culturais e a promoção do diálogo intercultural e por outro, o combate contra as diferenças abismais entre ricos e pobres.

Perspetivas das educadoras de infância de uma instituição particular de solidariedade social sobre o contributo da colaboração para o seu desenvolvimento profissional

Dissertação apresentada à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Ciências da Educação, especialidade em Supervisão em Educação

A satisfação no trabalho : uma aplicação às instituições particulares de solidariedade social em São Miguel, Açores

Dissertação de Mestrado em Gestão de Empresas/MBA.

Influência no processo de inserção social de jovens multiproblemáticos : o caso do CDIJ Perkursos

Dissertação de Mestrado, Sociologia, 17 de Abril de 2015, Universidade dos Açores.

A expressão dramática no desenvolvimento da formação pessoal e social da criança em idade pré-escolar

Relatório da Prática Profissional Supervisionada Mestrado em Educação Pré-Escolar

Social network analysis applied to knowledge creation and transfer in the portuguese agricultural R&D field: an exploratory study

Paper presented at the 9th European Conference on Knowledge Management, Southampton Solent University, Southampton, UK, 4-5 Sep. 2008. URL: http://academic-conferences.org/eckm/eckm2008/eckm08-home.htm

Mining social individuals movements and friends based on mobile devices

Trabalho de Projeto realizado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Informática e de Computadores

O empreendedorismo social como promotor da integração socioprofissional: um estudo exploratório

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentado ao Instituto de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Empreendedorismo e Internacionalização, sob orientação de Dra. Susana Bernardino e Professor Doutor José Freitas Santos

Positive effects of strategic corporate social responsibility

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics