Thursday, January 30, 2020

Effectiveness of Electronic Group Brainstorming Essay Example for Free

Effectiveness of Electronic Group Brainstorming Essay The first article reviewed was entitled â€Å"Improving Extreme-Scale Problem Solving: Assessing Electronic Brainstorming Effectiveness in an Industrial Setting† by Courtney C. Dornburg, Susan M. Stevens, Stacey M. L. Hendrickson, and George S. Davidson, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The paper was authored in June of 2009. The objective of this paper was to conduct an experiment and report the results of the efforts to compare the effectiveness of group electronic brainstorming versus individual electronic brainstorming to address difficult, real-world challenges (Dornburg et al. , 2009). Many such studies have been conducted over the years to determine if group brainstorming is more effective than individual brainstorming and the conclusion is that individual brainstorming creates more and better quality ideas. However, there are not many studies examining larger work groups, 30 or more, with diversity among skill and knowledge levels in an industrial setting. This article aims to determine the best way to leverage EBS (electronic brainstorming) methods within the setting of a national laboratory to evaluate performance within four industrially relevant areas. Because of the ever-increasing use of technology in the workplace, it is imperative that managers understand group dynamics to aid in solving industrially relevant issues and how to apply the right technology to the situation. The group of individuals conducting this research declares that electronic brainstorming has been proposed to reduce the negative effects of group brainstorming and help control costs. Electronic brainstorming should allow for shorter meetings, an increase in participation regardless of the participant’s location, a reduction in costs, and provide for better documentation. The experimental goals of this paper were as follows: 1. Measure idea quality as well as quantity 2. Examine larger work groups, up to 30 members 3. Solve a â€Å"real-world issue† 4. Determine how time and scheduling interact with EBS Participants in this study were randomly assigned to a group (one group of 39 and another group of 30) and were given instructions to log into a website and input their ideas at least once a day for 4 successive days. The availability of the website was not restricted to just working hours, thus participants could enter ideas either when working or at home, so whenever an idea came to them, they had the opportunity to log into the website and input their information. The nominal group participants only were able to see their own answers. The group-condition participants could see their own ideas as well as those of their group and could build on other ideas submitted by the rest of the group. The questions the participants were asked to respond to was a problem from the company president which contrasted two models of how organizations relate to their employees. The two questions were as follows: 1. How do employees establish an identity for themselves in relation to their work environment, i.e., how do they define their â€Å"we†, and 2. How to create the appropriate balance between the role of management and the sense of empowerment of employees (Dornburg et al., 2009). The results were generated and responses were evaluated based on originality, feasibility, and effectiveness. The results showed that nominal was superior to group brainstorming in at least some industrial contexts (Dornburg et al., 2009). In the nominal group responses, both average and maximum idea quality were considerably better than the group condition responses. The analysis proved that the nominal participants produced more good ideas than group participants; however there was not a major difference in the total number of ideas produced. This research proved to this group that large electronic groups are not inevitably the best option for solving industry related issues. If idea quality is the goal of the group, this issue can better be solved by collecting electronic individual responses rather than organizing an electronic group. Furthermore, the individual approach has the potential for cost savings. The second article reviewed was entitled â€Å"Social Influence Processes in Computer Brainstorming† by Paul B. Paulus, Timothy S. Larey, Vicky L. Putman, Karen L. Leggett, and Evelyn J. Roland, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Arlington. This article was produced in March of 1996. This research project assumes the same findings of the first paper reviewed, that large group brainstorming is not always the best option for generating new ideas, and takes it one step further to study the social influences in effect during the brainstorming process. The first paper proved that individual group brainstorming was the superior process for electronic brainstorming and this paper is investigating what elements lead to the productivity loss that occurs between individual brainstorming and group brainstorming. The article claims that there are several social interaction factors that can be attributed to the productivity loss such as social interaction anxiety, social loafing, and blocking. Additionally, it is stated that there is no real motivation to be a high performer and individuals will match their performance to the lower performers. The purpose of this research project was to provide further evidence for the social influence model within the context of electronic or computer-based brainstorming (Paulus et al., 1996). For this study, participants were assembled into groups of 4 and were asked to generate ideas using personal computers. There were four different group conditions used. In the first condition, the participants generated ideas individually, with no comparison feedback or verbalization. In the second condition, the participants publicly announced the number of ideas they created in 5 minute increments (comparison). In the third condition, as they typed their ideas, the individuals would voice their ideas (verbalization). And finally, in the fourth condition, participants verbalized their ideas as they typed and announced the number of ides they generated every 5 minutes, therefore combining both the comparison and verbalization conditions (conditions #2 and #3). The primary dependent measures were the number of ideas generated and perceptions of individual performance (Paulus et al., 1996). Additionally, this study examined the independent role of verbalization and social comparison processes in both the generation of ideas and the perception of performance in computer-based brainstorming groups (Paulus et al., 1996). There were 136 participants in this study who were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions and broken into groups of 4. All participants were contributing in a large room at the same time, except in the no verbalization-comparison condition, where those individuals participated alone in another room. The participants were asked to generate ideas on the pros and cons of having an extra thumb on each hand. At the end of the session, the participants were also asked to complete a questionnaire which asked them questions about their perception of their performance during the brainstorming session. This individual performance information was evaluated by the research team as well. The results of this study proved that by using the social comparison information, it increased the performance of the students generating ideas on the computer, meaning that giving the performance statistics of others can help increase the performance of the group. However in contrast, in the condition where the participants verbalized their ideas, this reduced the level of performance over the groups who did not voice their ideas. This is consistent with the idea that production blocking is a core reason for production loss of brainstorming groups, because the blocking occurs when the individuals in the group share ideas. Consequently, sometimes the performance comparison information can be helpful, but the verbalization of ideas most likely increases social anxiety and production blocking which will reduce the benefit of the comparison information. The more favorable individual performance perceptions were in the social comparison and verbalization condition groups. In summary, the findings of this study show that the perception of the participants in an interactive group is that they are more productive if they announce their ideas as they are generated during the group brainstorming process. In other words, typing ideas as they are being voiced during the group brainstorming process may be beneficial if oral interaction is preferred. Additionally, voicing ideas can help stimulate the individual thinking process and can create more confident feelings about individual performance. However, the actual performance of the group may be hindered when participants verbalize their ideas due to blocking and anxiety. Social comparison may increase the overall number of  ideas produced, but verbalization of ideas may hinder the number of ideas produced. One of the reasons why I chose this topic was that within my team at BJC, collaboration is highly recommended and expected. Brainstorming sessions are a regular occurrence and used frequently to generate new ideas in facilitation techniques, training material development, presentation techniques, and special project deliverables. So I determined that additional research on brainstorming would be interesting and beneficial to me to apply ideas to my working environment. The first paper I reviewed discussed the use of two different types of electronic brainstorming and which version was best for the brainstorming process. I have read many articles lately on brainstorming where they have indicated that due to personality differences, and being more introverted versus extroverted, idea generation is not a one-size-fits-all process. Using an individual electronic process can help those that are more introverted to give them time to think about ideas and write down ideas as they come to them, instead of putting them on the spot and asking them to generate ideas immediately and in a large group setting. I have personally not used the electronic method with regularity in a business setting. More often than not, we usually schedule a meeting and gain participation by having everyone together in one room and throw ideas around. I do feel that I can build off of others’ ideas easily in this type of setting, but I am more extroverted, so I tend to verbalize my thoughts easily and am energized by hearing others’ thoughts. I was surprised at the outcome of the first study where the nominal group generated more quality ideas that the group-condition participants, which supports the concepts from our Organizational Behavior textbook, in chapter 9. I personally am stimulated by other’s ideas and it helps me think more creatively if I can see or hear what others are thinking about the brainstorming topic, because as noted in the second paper, voicing ideas can be stimulating. I can see where individuals who are more introverted may be intimidated by the verbalization and comparison techniques as used in the second study. I also like the idea of having a standard website or shared electronic document to capture ideas when brainstorming is needed, as used in the first study. In my work environment, the most beneficial format would most likely be the group-condition because we tend to build off of each other’s ideas. We are a very interactive group, so the oral interaction, or visual interaction, would work well in our environment. I have experienced productivity blocking in brainstorming sessions previously where your brain has a tendency to to get stuck on one thought or idea and you have a hard time getting past that particular idea. However, again, probably because I am more extroverted, and am energized by conversation, I feel that I am eventually able to work through the brainstorming process and not get stuck in the blocking circle. Sometimes to get past the blocking, it just helps to build off of someone else’s idea, instead of coming up with your own original idea. The second pape r discussed that another reason for productivity loss was because there is no real motivation to be a high performer and individuals will match their performance to the lower performers. That’s not accurate in my case because I am also a very competitive individual. Even though there is no tangible reward for submitting as many ideas as possible, due to my competitive nature I would still try to submit as many ideas as possible so that I can be proud of my accomplishment. I would also perceive that my performance was better in the case that I was providing as many or more ideas as my colleagues, rather than submitting fewer ideas. In summary, I found both articles to be extremely beneficial on the topic of electronic brainstorming. I learned about new ways to brainstorm electronically and that there are many benefits, however with the social aspect, an organization needs to take into consideration the potential areas for productivity loss. Each organization should determine the best way to use electronic brainstorming for their environment based on their culture. Even though as the textbook states in chapter 9 that electronic meetings tend to lead to decreased group effectiveness and an increase in the amount of time it takes to complete tasks, technology continues to increase in popularity and it will be interesting to see how BJC decides to harness this technology to continue to generate quality ideas for the future of healthcare. REFERENCES Dornburg C, Stevens S, Hendrickson S, Davidson G. Improving Extreme-Scale Problem Solving: Assessing Electronic Brainstorming Effectiveness in an Industrial Setting. Human Factors [serial online]. August 2009;51(4):519-527. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed July 10, 2013. Paulus P, Larey T, Putman V, Leggett K, Roland E. Social Influence Processing in Computer Brainstorming. Basic Applied Social Psychology [serial online]. March 1996;18(1):3-14. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed July 10, 2013.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

The Stereotypical Old-West Lawman :: Media Stereotypes Stereotyping

The Stereotypical Old-West Lawman Justice, duty, silence, wisdom, bravery, self-reliance, independence, respect; these are all characteristics of the old-west lawman. Matt Dillon, marshal of Dodge City, is just such a lawman. His sense of justice, duty, and wisdom epitomize the stereotypical old-west hero. In the episode entitled Fawn, Marshal Dillon is charged with a woman that escaped an Indian camp. She is accompanied by a young Indian girl. They are in Dodge till the womans husband arrives fetch her. While the woman is waiting for her husband a man comes to speak to her. He accepts her and the little girl. When the husband arrives he wants the girl to go to a reservation, but the woman refuses to let her go. The husband divorces the woman and goes back east. The woman must run with the little girl because the government wants to put the little girl on a reservation. Marshal Dillon arranges for the man that spoke to the woman earlier to take both the woman and the little girl away with him. This saves the little girl. Throughout the episode Marshal Dillon defends the woman, because he thinks she and the little girl are treated unjustly. In the episode entitled How to Kill a Friend, a pair of gamblers come to town. They try to bribe Marshal Dillon, but he refuses to take their bribe. Later, someone shoots at the marshal as a scare tactic. He figures out that the gamblers shot at him and he runs them out of town. Usually such men move on to another town and dont return; but these men returned. This time they brought a gunman to keep Dillon in check. The gunman turns out to be an old friend of the marshal. He tries to convince his friend to leave, but the man has turned bad and refuses. Eventually they get into a confrontation. In the process, Dillon shoots and kills his friend. Though he is saddened that he killed his friend, he had to do his duty. He had done his best to dissuade his friend, but had to fulfill his duty. In the episode How to Die for Nothing, a bunch of cowboys from Texas come into town. One of them is drunk and when the marshal tries to take away his gun, he tries to shoot Dillon. Dillon had to shoot the cowboy and he ended up dying.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Mickey and Eddie Essay

As part of our Drama GCSE unit on Blood |Brothers we were requires to use a vast amount of sills and drama techniques in order to improve our understanding of Blood Brothers; in order to do this we completed various exercises to develop our explorative skills. One of the improvisations we had to partake in was the re-enactment of the finale scene in Blood Brothers. As we had already seen the Blood Brothers production, this acted as both an advantage and a hindrance. This acted as an advantage as we had an idea of both characters and therefore an insight into how we could perform this re-enactment, however the disadvantage was that this may prevent us from having our control over the character, this may also prevent us from using our own imagination to interpret the character and their actions as we would have been heavily influenced to mimic what we had already seen. However though we already had familiarity with the production, as it had been a considerable amount of time from when we had seen the production, our drama teachers refreshed our memories by establishing a class discussion on the subject, and the main themes of Blood Brothers. As a group discussed the main themes, scenes and then discussed the finale scene into depth; while doing this we discussed what body language and facial expressions were used and what we all found particularly effective in the scene. Once we had completed our discussion, we were then given a time frame to work towards. Once we had dispersed into our groups we divided the roles in the scene amongst ourselves; Adrian as Eddie, I was Mickey, Tamara was Mrs Johnston and both Zion and Emma acted as the police officers. I felt that this particular exercise was particularly interesting and beneficial for us all; this is as we had a new insight and understanding of Blood Brothers on a higher level. Through the re-enactment of the Blood Brothers production I also found a new knowledge of each character, particular Mickey (the character I played), this is because as you take on the role and you’re in a maximum involvement level you absorb the character and believe in the scene although it is actually happening. This lead to me felling more empathetic towards Mickey as I really felt able to relate to his feelings and his situation, therefore understanding what made him react in the way he did. Mickey reacted in the way he did as he was angry and felt completely betrayed by Eddie, his feelings weren’t helped by what he’d already been through in prison and with him now having to be on medication. Our own re-enactment was fairly accurate to what we had seen in the reduction, however I genuinely feel that we added our own input and originality into the way the final scene was devised and appeared to be (this is inevitable as when you relate to a character, your own feelings and opinions are bound to show through). In our own finale, Adrian (Eddie) opened the scene by thanking the audience for being elected as councillor, while doing so my character then interrupts by running down the stairs and onto the stage. I felt that y my character (Mickey) running down the tiered seating stairs, the audience became more involved in the scene. My character then started pushing Eddie and shouting about his infidelity with Lynda, Eddie then tries to reassure Mickey and justify himself by claiming that both him and Linda are only friends. At this point my character becomes enraged and grabs him by his collar. In our re-enactment there was more physical violence and confrontation on Mickey’s part, I felt that this would portray his rage more effectively. I also took a conscious decision to make Mickey’s tone of voice, behaviour and body language very erratic; this was in order to portray t the audience that he wasn’t in a completely stable state of mind. As b5h character continued in their confrontation, Eddie continues to try and make peace with Mickey and when it reaches the heightened tension of Mickey raising a gun to Eddie’s head, Mrs Johnston shouts stop and runs onto the scene. At this point both police officers run to the bottom of the stage from separate sides, a voice then circulates the room, saying â€Å"we have you surrounded, put the gun down†. At this point my character then starts to look around, suspicious about where the noise is emerging from; at this point I lower the gun. I feel this part of our re-enactment is particularly effective and original as all the other groups used the same approach as the one used in the production whereas in our own improvisation we devised it to appear as though the police have surrounded the building on the outside and are ready to burst in at any time. At this not Mrs Johnston (Tamara) then reveals to both Mickey and Eddie that they are literally ‘Blood Brothers’ as they are twins that were separated at birth, at this point both brothers ask why, at this point Mrs Johnston continues to explain. However in the middle of her explanation Mickey makes his final outburst screaming that because of being with her he’s ended up with no career or money whereas Eddie has managed to become some great councillor; Mrs Johnston then tries to calm Mickey down and t this point his voice raises, as does his hand and gun and he screams It should be me, at this point the gun goes off and Eddie’s killed. Meanwhile at the same point one of the police officers (Emma) emerges on scene and reacts to the sound of the bullet by shooting Mickey. I felt particular sympathy for the police offer that shot Mickey as she only reacted to the gun shot she had heard. I also feel that this particular situation gives the audience a real understanding into how difficult the job of a police officer can really be as they are often put in compromising situations in which quick instinct decisions have to be made. Another improvisation we re-enacted was the ‘kids play’ scene. Our drama teachers explained that the purpose of this is to enable us to lose all inhibitions and feel in essence what it’s like to be a child again. We were then told about Starkravski’s theory on the three essential skills tat needed in order for a person to be a god actor, the most important factor being that of naivatiae. This means to be in a child like state, oblivious to anyone there and t feel completely free, this is as children are extremely nai ve and innocent and with this they can believe in anything, allowing them to have a vivid imagination.

Monday, January 6, 2020

Market Audit and Competitive Market Analysis - 5771 Words

III. Market Audit and Competitive Market Analysis Guideline I. Introduction The marketing audit is a fundamental part of the marketing planning process. It is conducted not only at the beginning of the process, but also at a series of points during the implementation of the plan. The marketing audit considers both internal and external influences on marketing planning, as well as a review of the plan itself. II. The product Collection Topshop is all about refusing to be pigeonholed. Each customer is an individual and relies on the brand to deliver everything from basics to cutting-edge trends. It’s the broad spectrum of ever-changing co lections that keep Topshop ahead of the style game. Mainline Topshop’s Mainline range†¦show more content†¦The District is known to be one of the best places to shop for clothing, accessories, cosmetics and shoes for low prices. Many clothing companies manufacture their clothing in the Fashion District, such as American Apparel and Andrew Christian. Fashion District, Pico Santee The Fashion District also features Santee Alley, a heavily populated back alley shopping path between Maple and Santee Streets, stretching from Olympic Boulevard to Pico Boulevard. This alley is notorious for being home to a large concentration of counterfeiters trying to sell a variety of faux designer goods, ripped DVDs, and other stolen or bootleg items. Similarly, the alley is also known for its illegal trade in live animals, which has been criticized by animal rights activists as cruel. Despite this, there are also many reputable and honest merchants in the alley. 1. Geographical region(s) The product will be introduced in Los Angeles which is the most populous city in California and the second most populous in the United States, with a population of 3.8 million on a land area of 498.3 square miles (1,290.6 km2). 2. Forms of transportation and communication available in that (those) region(s) Freeways and Highways The city and the rest of the Los Angeles metropolitan area is served by an extensive network of freeways and highways. Despite the congestion in the city, the mean travel time for commuters in Los Angeles is shorter than other major cities, including New YorkShow MoreRelatedMarket Audit and Competitive Market Analysis4258 Words   |  18 PagesMarket Audit and Competitive Market Analysis Executive summary The lack of access to mosquito nets and coils and to sanitation systems are central public health concerns, globally and in Rwanda. No single intervention has greater overall impact upon national development and public health than does the provision of mosquito nets and coils. Inadequate mosquito nets and coils contribute to 70 percent of diseases in Rwanda. 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