Motivations for self-assembling into project teams

This study investigates the self-assembly mechanisms of ad hoc project teams using a bipartite network perspective. Individuals and projects are modeled as two types of nodes and team membership as relations between them. This approach enables us to investigate factors that impact voluntary team assembly at the individual, dyadic, and team levels simultaneously. Using Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGM/p*), we study players’ combat teams in a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) as a case of self-assembled project teams. Empirical results show that individuals are motivated to join ad hoc teams to complete difficult projects but not projects with long durations. We also found that individuals tend to collaborate with specific teammates who have complementary skills, those who have similar age or skill level, and those who are affiliated with the same organizational entity.     

Short- and long-term stability in organizational networks: Temporal structures of project teams

Network research focuses on patterns of stable relationships, where stability represents the unfolding of social processes over long time frames. We argue that social interactions exhibit important regularities in different time frames (short and long term), reflecting distinct social processes. We illustrate the value of this distinction through a comparative case study of technology-mediated communication, within two project teams in a digital marketing agency. We examine how the embedding of interpersonal interactions in processes of reciprocity and closure over different time horizons enables the emergence of cohesion in the face of constant compositional changes. We propose that the time frames in which stable patterns of interactions develop are the key to understanding the nature of the underlying social processes with short-term patterns of closure and reciprocity representing adaptation to change while longer term patterns indicate cohesion. Our results are supportive of this argument and show that the two teams exhibit the same regularities in interactions but across different time horizons. We discuss the implication of our findings and argue that distinguishing between short- and long-term stability of social networks offers a novel and promising avenue for network research.     

Primary care teams

SUMMARY. Northern Ireland has a health and social services structure which should lead to the easier establishment of effective primary care teams. Following an analysis of constraints on interprofessional collaboration, various models of practice in Northern Ireland and in England and Wales are discussed to demonstrate potential solutions. Child abuse in particular is used to identify both problems and ways forward, especially concerning the general practitioner's key role in the primary care team     

Chapter Eight

Even experiences practitioners in the field of elder abuse and neglect have had limited experience with the American civil system. This chapter explains the overall goals of the criminal and civil systems, the rules governing them, their processes, and the ways in which they can prevent and combat elder mistreatment in an ethical context. Practical application of goals, rules, and process of each system is described inn the sections on the three cases. This chapter represents one of the first attempts to view the criminal and civil legal systems conjointly and to advocate for the cooperation of the two systems in individual cases of elder mistreatment. It also describes the role of the two legal systems in relation to practitioners in the health and social services context and advocates for a multidisciplinary approach to elder mistreatment.     

职场"婚姻" 有"情"为重--8问情商

社会高速发展,职场竞争日益激烈,困难可能一波未平一波又起,压力霎时间似乎可以把人的意志全部摧毁。我们拿什么去抗衡?稳定、健康的心态和百折不挠的抗挫能力--这也就是情商内核部分。     

Good habits and bad habits: A new age socio-economic model of preference formation

In contrast to neoclassical economics which generally takes consumer preferences as given, the model developed here explains how a person's preferences for consumer goods change over time and may change for the better or worse. This is a four self model. The four selves correspond to four types of preferences: actual preferences, metapreferences, true preferences, and unrestrained preferences. An individual's initial actual preferences reflecting one's investment in consumption capital are likely to change to the extent that they differ either from ones metapreferences or one's unrestrained preferences. Temptations from the latter could lead to a deterioration of actual preferences. Or the intrapsychic stress that occurs when metapreferences are significantly out of synch with actual preferences could lead to improved actual preferences. A person's actual preferences improve when they change toward true preferences, the unique set of preferences that represent what is really and truly the best for that person.     

A Woman with Eight Roles

THEY say that a woman's work is never done but I wonder how many women fulfill eight roles at the same time? My family is a special and somewhat unusual union. Five generations living together under one roof is rare anywhere but is very rare in Gongqing City, Jiangxi Province. As well as my vocation - Manager of the Gongqing Branch of the People's Insurance Company of China - I inhabit seven roles under that roof: wife, grand-     

The saving and spending habits of young people

Over 250 British children and adolescents completed a questionnaire on their sources of personal income (pocket money/allowance, part-time job, gifts), as well as how much they had saved, where it was stored, and for what purpose it was intended. Particular attention was paid to bank accounts. The participants also responded to various attitude statements about money and the economic situation in general. Results showed numerous sex and age, but few class differences. Males received more pocket money and presents than females, and older children more than younger children. Over 80% of the children claimed their parents would not give them extra money if they had spent it all. Regressional analyses showed that the best predictors of regularity of saving, as well as the proportion of money saved, were the more money received; the less money spent in the previous week and total amount of money saved in the previous week. The results are discussed in terms of the limited empirical literature on children's pocket money allowances, particularly with respect to demographic differences. Limitations of the methodology are also reported.     

Dynasty Formation in Eight Imaginary Societies*

De quelle maniere les aspirations populaires et les mecanismes de controle de l'elite permettent-ils l'etablissement de dynasties ? Quelles sont les differences qui existent entre les societes dynastiques et les societes non-dynastiques dans les possibilites reelles de mobilite sociale intergenerationnelle ? Cet article tente d'apporter une reponse a ces questions par une analyse mecanographique simulee de huit societes fictives dont les effectifs demographiques sont modeles a l'image de l'Ontario. Nos analyses revelent que les societes dynastiques possedent les caracteristiques suivantes: (a) une tres forte probabilite d'heriter un statut d'appartenance a l'elite; (b) une faible chance d'entrer dans l'elite en provenance d'une classe inferieure; (c) les individus mobiles se retrouvent dans un nombre limite de classes; (d) une probabilite mediane relativement elevee d'une mobilite ascen-dante moderee (une a deux classes); et (e) un faible risque median d'une mobility descendante. Ces resultats sont expliques et verifies, par apres, en utilisant des donnees provenant de societes contemporaines. On discute, en dernier lieu, a la lumiere de ces resultats, les avantages des societes dynastiques et non-dynastiques. How do popular aspirations and elite controls contribute to the formation of dynasties? How do the opportunities for intergenerational social mobility differ in dynastic and non-dynastic societies? This paper attempts to answer these questions through a computer simulation of eight reasonably realistic “imaginary societies” modelled demographically after that of Ontario. The simulations reveal that dynastic societies are characterized by (a) a high probability of inheritance of elite status; (b) a low probability of entering the elite from below; (c) the restriction of mobile persons to a limited number of classes; (d) a relatively high median probability of moderate (one or two class) upward mobility; and (e) a relatively low median risk of downward mobility. These findings are explained and then verified by data from actual societies. The relative advantages of dynastic and non-dynastic societies are discussed in view of these findings.     

The use of multidisciplinary teams to support child welfare clients

Meeting the educational needs of young people in the child welfare system (CWS) requires effective collaboration between the CWS and the education system. In Norway and in other countries, there is an increased focus on interprofessional collaboration to support child welfare clients in and around schools. Multidisciplinary teams are employed to facilitate collaboration and coordinate supportive measures. The purpose of this article is to describe how teachers and social workers use such teams as part of a collaborative effort to support children living in difficult conditions. In an inductive thematic analysis of 13 interviews with 7 social workers and 6 teachers, the following five key themes were revealed: (i) solution-focused work; (ii) listening to the child; (iii) parental support; (iv) social/environmental opportunities for successful interactions and (v) ensuring school attendance through adapted education and support. In conclusion, we discuss the ways in which these themes reflect how teams support child welfare clients.     

Robustness of optimal majority rules over teams with changing size

This work investigates the robustness of optimal restricted majority rules under a changing size of a decision group. Robustness is an important property of decision rules, especially when cost of adjustment to a new rule is high. This is most likely to be the case when information about the competence of the members of the decision team is not costless. One of the useful findings of this study is that optimal restricted majority rules are robust over reductions of the decision team.The authors appreciate comments made by four anonymous referees.     

Lessons for successful nonprofit governance

Boards of nonprofit organizations malfunction as often as they function effectively. As the best-managed nonprofit organizations demonstrate, both the board and the executive are essential to the proper functioning of a nonprofit organization. These administrative organs must work as equal members of a team rather than one subordinate to the other. Moreover, the work of the executive and the board does not divide neatly into policy-making versus execution of policy. Boards and executives must be involved in both functions and must coordinate their work accordingly. In a well-functioning nonprofit organization, the executive will take responsibility for assuring that the governance function is properly organized and maintained.