Trust and knowledge sharing in diverse global virtual teams

Global virtual teams (GVTs) allow organizations to improve productivity, procure global knowledge, and transfer best practice information instantaneously among team members. GVTs rely heavily on IT and have little face-to-face interaction, thereby increasing problems resulting from geographic barriers, time language, and cultural differences, and inter-personal relationships. The purpose of our study was to design a normative framework that would assist organizations in understanding the relationship between diversity, mutual trust, and knowledge sharing among GVTs, with additional focus on understanding the moderating impact of collaborative technology and task characteristics. Empirical data was collected from 58 GVTs and analyzed using a Hierarchical Multiple Regression technique. Results showed that in GVTs, deep level diversity has a more significant relationship with team processes of mutual trust and knowledge sharing than visible functional level diversity. This relationship is moderated by the collaborative capabilities of available technology and levels of interdependence of the task. Furthermore, knowledge sharing and mutual trust mediate the relationship between diversity levels and team effectiveness.     

Understanding technology use in global virtual teams: Research methodologies and methods

Context

The globalisation of activities associated with software development and use has introduced many challenges in practice, and also (therefore) many for research. While the predominant approach to research in software engineering has followed a positivist science model, this approach may be sub-optimal when addressing problems with a dominant social or cultural dimension, such as those frequently encountered when studying work practices in a globally distributed team setting.The investigation of such a team reported in this paper provides one example of an alternative approach to research in a global context, through a longitudinal interpretive field study seeking to understand how global virtual teams mediated the use of technology. The study involved a large collective of faculty and support staff plus student members based in the geographically and temporally distant locations of New Zealand, the United States of America and Sweden.

Objective

Our focus in this paper is on the conduct of research in the context of global software activities, and in particular, as applied to the actions and interactions of global virtual teams. We consider the appropriateness of various methodologies and methods in enabling such issues to be addressed.

Method

We describe how we undertook a substantial field study of global virtual teams, and highlight how the adopted structuration theory, action research and grounded theory methodologies applied to the analysis of email data, enabled us to deliver effectively against our goals.

Results

We believe that the approach taken suited a research context in which situated practices were occurring over time in a highly complex domain, ensuring that our results were both strongly grounded and relevant to practice. It has resulted in the generation of substantive theory and techniques that have been adapted and applied on a pilot basis in further field settings.

Conclusion

We conclude that globally distributed teamwork presents a complex context which demands new research approaches, beyond the limited set customarily applied by software engineering researchers. We advocate experimenting with different research methodologies and methods so that we have a more rounded repertoire to address the most important and relevant issues in global software development research, with the forms of rigour that suit the chosen approach.     

嵌入式VTL中应用程序与内核通讯的设计

在嵌入式虚拟磁带库（VTL）的设计中,应用程序与内核之间的通讯是一个核心问题。本文提出了基于共享磁盘和共享内存的应用程序与内核之间的通讯方案,实现了嵌入式虚拟磁带库中的用户界面和SCSI控制器之间可靠的消息传递。实验表明,该通讯解决方案是可行的。     

A 10-year assessment of information and communication technology tasks required in undergraduate agriculture courses

This study sought to assess required information and communication technology (ICT) tasks in selected undergraduate agriculture courses in a land-grant university during a 10-year period. Selected agriculture faculty members in the fall 1999 (n = 63), 2004 (n = 55), and 2009 (n = 64) semesters were surveyed to determine the ICT tasks they required of students. There were significant (p < .05) increases in the number of required Internet and electronic mail tasks between 1999 and 2009; but no significant changes in the number of word processing, computer graphics, spreadsheet, database, or miscellaneous ICT tasks required over the period. In 1999, three specific tasks (receive electronic mail, search the Internet, and type a lab or project report) were required in more than 50% of courses; in 2009, these three tasks plus three additional tasks (send electronic mail, submit assignments as attached electronic mail files, and use Blackboard^© to acquire course information) were required in a majority of courses. Faculty with higher levels of self-perceived ICT skills and those teaching higher-level courses tended to require larger and more diverse sets of ICT tasks than other faculty. Course level explained the largest proportion of unique variance in the number of required spreadsheet, word processing, computer graphics, and miscellaneous ICT tasks. Self-perceived ICT skills and course level explained approximately equal amounts of the unique variance in total ICT tasks required. Both the quantity and complexity of ICT in undergraduate agriculture courses should be increased.     

The use of information and communication technology in the sea fishing industry

The advent of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has profoundly altered relations between vessels and the shore. Thanks to ICTs, vessels are no longer cut off from land. The technologies in use in today's fisheries, however, remain fairly rudimentary. This article describes the use of ICTs aboard offshore fishing vessels. It relies on the concepts of ‘instruments’ and ‘usage scheme’ defined by Rabardel (Rabardel, P., 1995. Les hommes et les technologies. Paris: Armand Colin) and analyses the use of ICTs in terms of objectives, information sought and communication targets. It points to the prevalence of vessel-to-vessel interchange, and to a frequent use of ICTs to seek out and locate fish. It shows the existence of a ‘key instrument’, the Inmarsat standard C, and defines the way in which fishermen are organised in cognition-sharing networks.     

The use of information technology among young adults--experience, attitudes and health beliefs

The aim of this study was to explore attitudes, coherence and health beliefs among young adults, related to their use and experience of information technology (IT). A qualitative approach was used and the data were collected through individual thematised interviews with 25 young IT users, aged 18–24. The interviews were analysed in line with the grounded theory method with a constructivist approach. The main findings were the young adults’ experience of the two sides of being social, efficient and independent here and now. They described almost unlimited opportunities in connection with IT, but they also had misgivings, and perceived risks regarding IT use. Feelings of freedom and being efficient were countered by feelings of restrictions on living space and of intangibility. Knowledge concerning these attitudes, coherence and health beliefs can be considered when designing epidemiological and ergonomic studies aimed at risk identification.     

Creative self-efficacy and its factors: An empirical study of information system analysts and programmers

Based on a survey of 94 information systems developers, this study explored how personal factors (i.e. computer self-efficacy and domain-specific information technology skills), contextual factors (i.e. strength of ties and degree centrality) and creative self-efficacy are related. Regression analysis results demonstrate that system analysts and programmers differ in terms of influencing factors on creative self-efficacy. Domain-specific skills were the main influence in the system analyst model, followed by degree centrality. In comparison, degree centrality was the only influence in the programmer model. Degree centrality exerted a negative influence in both groups. Additionally, among system analysts, the strength of ties slightly influenced creative self-efficacy, while computer self-efficiency and domain-specific information technology skills exerted only small influences on programmers.     

The impact of information and communication technologies on the costs of democracy

Recent developments in information and communication technologies (ICTs) can change the way strategic organizational decisions are negotiated and voted upon. We propose an analytical framework that investigates the effect of such technologies on the costs of the decision-making process in organizations by incorporating a technology variable in an already well-known model of public decision-making. The framework is applicable to any large group decision setting where collective decisions are made by voting, such as shareholders’ meetings, local and federal government meetings. We apply the framework to derive policies that will help to decrease the costs related to the democratic process. The first policy requires that governments should invest more in technologies that support multi-lateral communication and negotiation among citizens, and the second requires that citizens should use better voting mechanisms than simple majority voting to make decisions.     

基于进程防火墙与虚拟盘的非法信息流过滤方法

提出一种在虚拟磁盘中对文件映像前后的访问进程进行监控并对非法信息流进行过滤的方法。该方法在关键字或特征信息提取过程中安装各种钩子并对接入主机进行审计,用来提高系统服务器的包转发速率与非法信息的捕捉能力。其目的是阻止病毒或木马程序对文件破坏或数据包劫持,保证信息接入的可控性和安全性。实验测试表明,系统降低了包转发时延,提高了包转发速率和非法信息的识别能力。     

基于串并口技术的围墙安防报警系统设计

本文介绍了基于串并口技术的围墙安防报警系统的设计方法，分析了其工作原理及工作流程．并介绍了利用C 实现软件设计的方法。     

Adoption of ICT in a government organization in a developing country: An empirical study

eGovernment initiatives all over the world endeavor to integrate Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to transform delivery of government services to their stakeholders by improving quality of services, accountability and efficiency. In this study we explore adoption of ICT to enhance government-to-employee interactions in a government organization in a developing country. We examine this adoption behavior by utilizing the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) that provides an integrative view of user acceptance. We found that performance and effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions all positively impact the use of the ICT. We did not find a significant moderating effect of gender on these relationships.     

基于无线HART通信技术的仪表管理与诊断系统的设计

工业无线技术是降低工业测控系统成本、提高工业测控系统应用范围的革命性技术.文章针对HART智能仪表的广泛使用现状和工业无线需求两方面的考虑,提出了一种基于无线HART通信技术的仪表管理与诊断系统的设计方案.文章首先基于HART通信技术,提出了系统的体系结构,接着论述了无线HART协议和无线HART的四层次模型,并且详细...     

VGITS: ITS based on intervehicle communication networks and grid technology

The intelligent traffic system based on intervehicle communication networks and grid technology is proposed. This system adopts hybrid architecture, and diverse real-time traffic services are provided in a centralized or decentralized way. Grid technology is introduced to provide the high performance computing platform for massive traffic data processing and real-time traffic service presenting. Moreover, the computation and communication capacity of the IVC network is developed and exploited to provide decentralized traffic services to drivers. Therefore, the system load is balanced among grid nodes and in-vehicle terminal, and better performance is achieved. At last, a prototype is implemented to demonstrate the efficiency and effectivity.     

Science, technology and society in East Asia: Frameworks for the challenges of the next century

Science and technology development is increasingly driven by the requirements of a globalising world economy. Information and communication technologies both support this globalisation process, and provide opportunities to participate in it. However, the process of development is not uniform. Within nation states and within regions there is considerable inequity in the scale and pace of development. Successful science and technology policies require an understanding of location within a global production network and of local capabilities. This paper explores the prospects for such policies in the context of North East Asia.     

Impact of national culture on information technology usage behaviour: An exploratory study of decision making in Korea and the USA

This essay offers some propositions and predictions about the future conduct and effectiveness of e-business. It is argued that successful e-business activity will require the effective management of certain core 'building blocks'. These are concerned with new technology, supply chain relationships, business processes and empowered employees. It is argued that the UK's track record is poor in these areas, in large part due to many organizations lacking a systemic understanding of these issues and the relationships between them. It is predicted that such systemic understanding will get harder for organizations (as systems get more complex and tightly coupled) and that the majority of e-business ventures, in the short to medium term, will fail to meet their objectives.     

The effect of emoticons in simplex and complex task-oriented communication: An empirical study of instant messaging

Many studies have shed light on general computer-mediated communication, instant messaging (IM), and emotion or emoticons, but little is known specifically about the impacts of emoticons in task-oriented IM communication in the workplace. Therefore, the current study addresses this issue by conducting an exploratory experiment to (1) categorize workplace IM messages into coherent groups, (2) identify the most commonly used emoticons (emblems) for expressing positive, negative, and neutral emotions in the case company, (3) test the differences in the emotional effects of the received text messages with and without emoticons on the reader/s, and (4) examine the intention to use emoticons in IM in the workplace. The results showed that (1) negative emoticons could cause a negative effect in both simplex and complex task-oriented communication, (2) positive emoticons only created a positive effect in complex communication and for female employees in simplex communication, and (3) there is no significant difference between task-oriented messages with or without neutral emoticon. Furthermore, the intention of using emoticons was not statistically significant in terms of gender, but it has a higher tendency on female employees. The corresponding suggestions provided by this research may help increase our understanding on the effect of emoticon use in IM in the workplace.     

A systematic approach for improving the quality of official statistics: Case of Korean information and telecommunication industry

With the rapid growth of information and communication technology (ICT) in Korea, there was a need to improve the quality of official ICT statistics. In order to do this, various factors had to be considered, such as the quality of surveying, processing, and output as well as the reputation of the statistical agency. We used PLS estimation to determine how these factors might influence customer satisfaction. Furthermore, through a comparison of associated satisfaction indices, we provided feedback to the responsible statistics agency. It appears that our model can be used as a tool for improving the quality of official ICT statistics.     

Information technology’s impact on school–parents and parents–student interrelations: a case study

This paper explores the impact of a school management information system on the interrelations between parents and school and parents and their student children in terms of the children’s learning, behavior and attendance (LBA), during one academic year, in a vocational high school, located in a mainstream socio-economic neighborhood. Parents’ LBA interrelations with the principal, homeroom teachers, grade level coordinators, and the school as an institution as well as with their children changed noticeably. The involvement of parents in general, but of parents with children having LBA problems in particular, in school LBA issues became more intensive, more frequent and more focused. The paper’s results add the information technology dimension to parents involvement in school research, a dimension neglected so far. Implications for the principal’s work are discussed.     

Here and now mobile learning: An experimental study on the use of mobile technology

Mobile technology opens the door for a new kind of learning called here and now learning that occurs when learners have access to information anytime and anywhere to perform authentic activities in the context of their learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of here and now mobile learning on student achievement and attitude. The research questions addressed were (1) Does “Here and Now” mobile learning significantly improve student achievement when compared with Computer based Instruction? (2) Does “Here and Now” mobile learning significantly improve student attitude when compared with Computer based Instruction? (3) Are there differences in student achievement and attitudes when “Here and Now” mobile learning is delivered using a tablet versus ipod? 109 undergraduate students enrolled in preservice instructional design and instructional technology courses at a regional southeastern university participated in the study. Participants took a pretest at the beginning of the study, and then were assigned to one of the versions of an art lesson (CBI version and iPad/iPod version) which were developed using Lectora Inspire incorporating information on five different paintings in the education building. After the lesson, they completed the posttest and an attitude survey. ANOVA was conducted on data obtained from the achievement posttest and on the attitude survey results for the Likert type items (Items 1–12). Analyses on achievement and attitude data revealed positive significant differences. The CBI treatment achieved positive posttest scores on the posttest while the iPad/iPod treatments had positive attitudes. This study has implications for those designing and implementing mobile learning.     

The effects of positive affect and personal information search on outcomes in call centers: An empirical study

Despite the increasing availability of computer-based information sources within organizations, employees continue to rely on other people as important sources of information. However, relatively little is known about the relations among positive affect, personal information search, and related outcomes — especially in organizations. Using data from 276 service representatives in one organization we find that positive affect is positively related to the likelihood of searching for information through personal sources. Moreover, we find that the relations between the likelihood of searching for information via personal sources and work outcomes, such as productivity and job satisfaction, are moderated by positive affect. Specifically, we find that positive affect negatively moderates the relations between personal information search and productivity, but positively moderates the relations between personal information search and job satisfaction. As we will discuss, these findings not only contribute to the IT and organizational behavior literatures but also have significant implications for practitioners.