For the off‐line programming of robots to be successful thegraphical simulation must model the real work cell to a very high degree ofaccuracy which calls for equally accurate…
Abstract
For the off‐line programming of robots to be successful the graphical simulation must model the real work cell to a very high degree of accuracy which calls for equally accurate calibration of the robot. The University of Surrey has been developing a optical, non‐contact 3‐D repeat motion tracking system called Optotrac to carry out this task. Outlines the Optotrac specification and principals of operation which is based on the use of a “cat’s eye” target and two laser beams. Compares Optotrac with other robot metrology tools and gives examples of fits application. Concludes that most metrology tools are still confined to the laboratory but as the systems become more widely available and the prices fall they will spread into industrial application.
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Alexander R. Marbut and Peter D. Harms
A key feature of performance in many professions is that of vigilance, carefully monitoring one’s environment for potential threats. However, some of the characteristics that may…
Abstract
A key feature of performance in many professions is that of vigilance, carefully monitoring one’s environment for potential threats. However, some of the characteristics that may make someone successful in such work may also be more likely to make them fail in the long-term as a result of burnout, fatigue, and other symptoms commonly associated with chronic stress. Among these characteristics, neuroticism is particularly relevant. To exert the effort that vigilance work requires, sensitivity to threats, a core aspect of neuroticism, may be necessary. This is evidenced by higher rates of neuroticism in vigilance-related professions such as information technology (IT). However, other aspects of neuroticism could attenuate performance by making individuals more distractible and prone to burnout, withdrawal, and emotional outbursts. Four perspectives provide insight to this neuroticism–vigilance paradox: facet-level analysis, trait activation, necessary conditions, and job characteristics. Across these perspectives, it is expected that too little neuroticism will render employees unable to perform vigilance tasks effectively due to lack of care while too much neuroticism will cause employees to become overwhelmed by work pressures. Contextual and personological moderators of the neuroticism–vigilance relationship are discussed, as well as two behavioral styles expected to manifest from neuroticism that could explain how neuroticism may be associated with either good or bad performance-relevant outcomes.
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Sudi Nangoli, Benon Muhumuza, Maureen Tweyongyere, Gideon Nkurunziza, Rehema Namono, Muhammed Ngoma and Grace Nalweyiso
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which perceived leadership integrity influences changes in organisational commitment. The premise of the study is the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which perceived leadership integrity influences changes in organisational commitment. The premise of the study is the argument that non-financial rewards alleviate the challenges associated with low levels of commitment in economies that are riddled with incessant situations of economic scarcity.
Design/methodology/approach
An explanatory study approach was adopted to investigate the envisaged linkage between the study variables from a socio-psychological perspective.
Findings
The results of the study establish that perceived leadership integrity significantly influences variations in commitment among organisational employees.
Research limitations/implications
The study results provide a reason for firms to invest more resources towards promoting honesty among organisational leaders. The findings of the study support the idea that perceived integrity of an organisation's leadership generates a sustainable win–win position not only between the organisation and employees, but also among the leaders and subordinates.
Practical implications
Organisations must regularly consider the drivers of organisational commitment and pay sufficient attention to non-financial drivers. As advanced by this study, a very important yet economical way of effecting such a strategy is through instituting measures that sustainably create a perception among employees that organisational leaders execute their duties with the utmost integrity.
Originality/value
This article has both empirical and theoretical value. Empirically, this work is the first of its kind aimed at investigating the effect of perceived leadership integrity on organisational commitment within Uganda's hospitality setting. Theoretically, the study extends the versatility of the hierarchy of needs theory by clarifying that higher-level needs offer a basis for explaining the effect of psychological processes (in this case, perceived leadership integrity) on behavioural changes (in this case, organisational commitment).
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2019 was a big year. The Great Hack and investigative journalism of Carole Cadwalladr exposed the machinations of Cambridge Analytica. The US senate summoned Mark Zuckerberg to…
Abstract
2019 was a big year. The Great Hack and investigative journalism of Carole Cadwalladr exposed the machinations of Cambridge Analytica. The US senate summoned Mark Zuckerberg to face an extended interrogation on the ways in which Facebook screens content. Greta Thunberg fomented a global ‘climate emergency’ movement with attacks on lying political leaders. If 2016 saw ‘post-truth’ rise to prominence as a concept, 2019 was characterised by myriad efforts to champion truth and counter misinformation. And then the COVID-19 crisis hit. The urgency we began to feel in 2019 to address the ills in our society and hunt for a cause and cure has intensified. We now daily ask at whose door we can lay the blame and, from there, what solutions we can implement. For now, we have drawn the battle lines between tech and society and looked to pit governments against technologies which have changed the face of media. But amidst this flurry of activity, we need to stop and ask ourselves: are we setting our sights on the right actors and are we taking the right next steps?
Written in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, this contribution responds to the burning debate on how to overcome our current infodemic and immunise against future outbreaks. It offers an alternative narrative and argues for a much more radical course of action. It posits that we have misidentified the root cause of our current post-truth reality. It argues that we are in fact experiencing the extreme consequence of decades of poor education the world over. It champions a shift from drilling young people in so-called facts and figures to developing those deep levels of literacy in which critical thinking plays a fundamental part. This is not to exculpate the Facebooks and Twitters of our time – new tech has no doubt facilitated the dissemination of half-truths and untruths. But it is to insist upon contextualising our current albeit horrifying reality within a much more complex and longer-running societal challenge. In other words, this chapter makes a fresh clarion call for rethinking how we have got to where we are and where we might most meaningfully go next, as well as how, indeed, we might conceptualise the links between technology, government, media and education.
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Izabela Simon Rampasso, Rosley Anholon, Osvaldo Luiz Gonçalves Quelhas, Luis Velazquez and Claudia Mac-Lean
Gideon D Markman, Robert A Baron and David B Balkin
Shane and Venkataraman (2000) and Venkataraman (1997) suggest that the field of entrepreneurship seeks to understand how opportunities are discovered, created, and exploited, by…
Abstract
Shane and Venkataraman (2000) and Venkataraman (1997) suggest that the field of entrepreneurship seeks to understand how opportunities are discovered, created, and exploited, by whom, and with what consequences (italic added). Surprisingly and despite the fact that the person – the entrepreneur – is central to the creation of new ventures, entrepreneurship scholars are reluctant to explicitly include individual differences in formal models of new venture formation. For example, notwithstanding the important role that entrepreneurs play in forging new wealth and creating new jobs, research to identify cognitive processes, attitudes, behaviors, traits, or other characteristics that distinguish entrepreneurs from others who opt to work as employees remains somewhat marginal. Indeed, only very few studies on individual differences have been published in leading management journals. One possible explanation for this reluctance is that in the past researchers might have classified most individual differences as traits research and thus criticism spilled over to include all individual difference research, regardless of whether the focus was trait, cognitions, emotions, attitudes, behaviors, or other characteristics.
Since the 1950s, the closet has been the chief metaphor for conceptualizing the experience of sexual minorities. Social change over the last four decades has begun to dismantle…
Abstract
Since the 1950s, the closet has been the chief metaphor for conceptualizing the experience of sexual minorities. Social change over the last four decades has begun to dismantle some of the social structures that historically policed heteronormativity and forced queer people to manage information about their sexuality in everyday life. Although scholars argue that these changes make it possible for some sexual minorities to live “beyond the closet” (Seidman, 2002), evidence shows the dynamics of the closet persist in organizations. Drawing on a case study of theme park entertainment workers, whose jobs exist at the nexus of structural conditions that research anticipates would end heterosexual domination, I find that what initially appears to be a post-closeted workplace is, in fact, a new iteration: the walk-in closet. More expansive than the corporate or gay-friendly closets, the walk-in closet provides some sexual minorities with a space to disclose their identities, seemingly without cost. Yet the fundamental dynamics of the closet – the subordination of homosexuality to heterosexuality and the continued need for LGB workers to manage information about their sexuality at work – persist through a set of boundaries that contain gayness to organizationally desired places.
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Gideon Markman, Timothy M. Devinney, Torben Pedersen and Laszlo Tihanyi