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Contribution: An evaluation of the effectiveness of systems engineering (SE) courses in developing students' systems thinking (ST) capacity in both the cognitive and affective domains. A combined cognitive ST performance and affective engagement with ST assessment is proposed as an approach to assess students' ST in both domains. The results can support course change decisions and guide learning experience development. Background: SE education aims to produce graduates with strong knowledge and skills in SE and a strong appreciation of the practical value of ST, which addresses the cognitive and affective domains in education. Consequently, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of SE courses in developing students' ST in these domains, an area that studies do not consider. Intended Outcomes: An understanding of the ST ability of undergraduate students in an SE course in a domain specific engineering program in both the cognitive and affective domains. Application Design: A study evaluated the effectiveness of two SE classes in developing students' ST capacity using a combined cognitive and affective assessment tool developed and validated in previous studies. ST assessment is determined by combining ST performance and affective engagement. To observe the transformation of students' ST capacity, a longitudinal design collected data at two times in each of two offerings of an SE course offered by the same university in two locations--Australia and Singapore. Findings: The course developed students in most dimensions of cognitive ST, but did not appear to improve students' affective engagement with ST Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The purpose of this paper was to develop and validate a new theoretically based scale to measure students' learning of systems thinking in relation to the affective domain in the context of systems engineering education. Two variant questionnaires are reported here, one using only questions constructed using positive grammar and the other using a mix of positive and negative constructs, each applied to a different sample. The first group of 186 participants completed the positive version of the questionnaire, and, the second group of 163 completed the mixed version. Construct validity was examined through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). EFA was conducted to find the factors underlying each questionnaire. CFA was conducted to confirm the better questionnaire version and to confirm the factors which underlie both versions. The results indicate that a three factor, 16 item, scale with a mix of positive and negative wording is the better instrument with which to measure students' engagement with systems thinking. The results also indicate that the three factor, 16 item construct is a better representative of both versions of the questionnaire, whether the questionnaire has only positive questions or a mix of positive and negative questions. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This book consists of essays related to the issues of regulation of communication. The chapters present different facets of the question of how officials control, "regulation," and informal social and cultural constraint of communication, "regularization," impact the processes of communication on the professional and workplace setting. Some of the topics covered include: the regularized communications forms used in the healthcare profession; the impact of the PowerPoint software application as a regulator or "regularizer" of professional presentations; the regulatory practices of academic writing; the use of discourse to challenge the status quo and to work for change; the nature of power in the workplace; and the discourse form used in public hearings and inquiries. The text achieves the editors' objective in providing the reader with a sound picture of the state of current study and with a framework of ideas and perspectives to prompt future research.

This book bridges two fields - the management of teams and the use of collaborative software tools to support work in the virtual team environment. It is divided into two parts: the first addressing the managing of virtual teams and the second an evaluation of software tools to support the virtual teams. Chapter 1 discusses team dynamics in a virtual team. Chapter 2 concerns the establishment of a virtual team. Chapter 3 discusses the choice of particular collaborative tools. Chapter 4 addresses decisions about communicating with the team, while Chapter 5 addresses the issues of coordinating the team. In Chapter 6, the authors advocate the use of a wiki for authorship of documents, while in Chapter 7, they discuss the conduct of project reviews. Chapter 8 concerns the processes required to manage risk and change, while Chapter 9 wraps up Part 1 by discussing the evaluation of projects. Part 2 describes the general classes of tools available, the variety of features available in tools, and the interaction of those features with different types of of situations presented in virtual team work. The chapters of this part deal with the general approach used by the authors, the issues of installation, customization and security, collaborative software suites, meeting and communication tools, information broadcasting tools, information sharing tools, information gathering tools, "push" technologies, and wikis. The guidance provided in this book will be of considerable assistance to anyone making decisions about appropriate tools to support collaborative virtual teamwork.

This book is the published version of Gina Poncini's Ph.D. thesis, completed at University of Birmingham, UK. It provides an account of a research project in the traditional manner and substantial referencing of the literature. The work is motivated by the observation that work and business are becoming more difficult as a result of globalization, which has forced more people to confront the language and cultural interaction issues caused by working with people from other national backgrounds. Poncini examines the issue by presenting one particular company's experience. The book is divided into nine chapters. In Chapter 2, Poncini presents the view that a multinational business meeting is a distinctive structure that represents a unified culture in itself. Later chapters outline the methodology of the work, examine the use of personal pronouns, and investigate the use of specialized lexis. The use of language that expresses evaluation of subject matter is discussed, as well as the three major frames of reference of the communication structures used in the meetings. Poncini concludes by asserting that meetings form some kind of new culture, or are at least characterized by the participants' shared cultural practices, which is probably related to the individual benefit derived from achieving group success through coherence of the overall group. The text is a valuable contribution because it forces the reader to think more deeply and subtly about the nature of intercultural interactions.

This book examines the place of mobile telephone technology in Japanese society. It is a compilation of chapters by various authors, most of whom work in social sciences or humanities in Japanese universities. The book is divided into five sections, representing a logical development of the methodology for investigating and presenting the issues developed by the editors: "The Social and Cultural Construction of Technological Systems"; "Cultures and Imaginaries"; "Social Networks and Relationships"; "Practice and Place"; and "Emergent Developments." The book is a very interesting exploration of the interaction between Japanese society and mobile telephony technology, discussing the kinds of uses and the impact of the changed possibilities effected by the existence and deployment of the technology.

This book addresses the place of intuition in business. Some of the topics covered include: the nature of intuition; formal approaches to decision making; the difference between insight and intuition; and the relationship between feelings and intuition. While the book conveys the message that intuition is a valuable process in business, the author does not manage to construct an argument that most serious readers will find convincing.

This short book about listening is intended for use as either supplemental reading in business and professional communication course, or as the text of a listening module in such courses. The book aims to provide guidance about how to listen, theoretical background of interest to a person engaged in another professional field, and elements of persuasion about the importance of listening as a communication skill.