Search results

Talking about smart cities also entails talking about new ways of mobility. Various concepts compete for reimagining future mobility, most prominently connected cars, robo taxis, and other forms of shared mobility. New digital technologies, changing customer requirements, but also new competitors are dynamically affecting previous market logics. To stay future-proof in this new world of mobility, the automotive sector, which is an important nucleus for developing such mobility solutions, is currently undergoing fundamental digital transformation processes. Established car manufacturers have to find their path to choose out of the many possibilities on the rise. Against this backdrop, they face the major challenge to find an answer to the question: Who are we and who do we want to be in the future? Therefore, we argue that organizations’ digital transformation is highly entangled with questions on organizational identity and discuss digital transformation as a potential identity threat for established organizations.

We begin this chapter by introducing the concept of organizational identity. Afterward, we will continue with applying it to the practical context of car manufacturers: After depicting the major trends of digitalization in the mobility and automotive sector, we will focus on the digital transformation processes of established automotive companies and discuss their impact on organizational identity. Empirical illustrations of the Volkswagen case depict our theoretical considerations.

We provide theoretical ideas for better understanding the impact of digital transformation on organizational identity, as well as suggestions for practitioners concerned with organizations’ digital transformation processes.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show reduced attention to social stimuli. The reasons for these impairments are still being debated by researchers. The aim of this study is to analyse if reduced attention towards social stimuli is determined by initial underlying difficulties in the control of visual attention. Among the variables that could produce these difficulties, the authors considered geometric complexity and typology of geometric figures.

To test this hypothesis, in this paper, an eye-tracker paradigm was used for assessing visual exploration and recognition memory towards geometric figures (curved vs rectilinear) with two levels of geometric complexity (low and high) in 17 children with ASD matched with 17 children with typical development (TD).

The results showed that the ASD group seemed indifferent to both the geometric complexity and the typology of figures (curved and rectilinear), whereas the TD group showed higher performances with highly complex and curved geometric figures than with low complex and rectilinear geometric figures.

Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed hypotheses further.

This paper includes implications upon the presence of an unspecified visual attention deficit that is present from the early stages of the processing of stimuli.

The understanding of this deficit from the early stages of the processing of stimuli can help educators to intervene at an early stage when disturbances in social relationships are starting.

This study contributes to understanding the presence of dysfunctional perceptual antecedents that could determine general difficulties in paying attention to social stimuli in ASD subjects.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the need for innovation as a means of competitive advantage in the housekeeping (HK) department of five-star hotels in Dubai and consider how the nature of the industry in the region provides particular challenges.

An initial White Paper produced by Amadeus served as the stimulus to conduct a preliminary literature review of innovation in the field of hospitality. The application of innovation was then considered via a content analysis of web sites in Dubai to identify potential candidates for interview. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Senior Housekeeping Executives in two internationally recognized chain hotels in Dubai to better understand whether there is a need for innovation, what types of innovation are important within these HK departments and understand the potential challenges confronting senior managers in fostering innovative practices.

The key results of this study provide interesting insights into the problems of developing and managing innovation within HK operations, highlighting the issues that exist as potential barriers to innovation in terms of the organizational culture and the ownership structure within the industry in Dubai. The research also highlights the fact that much of the innovation introduced within the HK department is focused on utilization of technology and is very much “output”-orientated in terms of improving customer service and creating operational efficiencies.

The paper profiles the potential problems confronting the HK department when it comes to identifying and adopting innovation. The paper also highlights the ever-changing nature of the organizational culture and the ownership structure in the five-star hotel industry in Dubai as a critical influence in terms of the perceived importance of innovation as a success factor for the future.

The study is the first in a series of research papers that explores the relationship between key stakeholders in the hospitality industry in Dubai as the customer demand alters and they try to identify and implement innovative ideas and concepts that provide return on investment, increased customer satisfaction, sustainability and competitive advantage. It is the first paper that identifies the context and the current internal and external environments and the drivers within the industry in Dubai (five-star) hotels with a particular focus on 2020. This is within an industry that is showing evidence of change management within the customization of the hotel build and specification, and within the adaption of IT, but is looking for innovation within the application of ideas into industry processes.

While often considered a low incidence disability, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) among students are anything but low incidence occurrences. Furthermore, educators are often at times not made aware that a student is injured; when informed, the information provided is generally limited or incomplete at best leaving educators unsure regarding what is needed for the student. In this chapter, information on TBI and its effects on students is provided. We also explore the history of inclusion, mechanisms for service delivery, accommodations and modifications for injured students, and transitioning and reintegrating students post-injury. Lastly, we provide a review of common barriers to service delivery and offer both proactive and reactive strategies to overcome those barriers.

Women make up about half of the overall workforce, but they are still underrepresented in higher pay, leadership and senior-level positions. Literature indicated genders are different in information processing, values, learning styles, behaviors and leadership styles. A customized women-only training program (WOTP) has been implemented cross-disciplinary; yet, the literature has limited discussions on the principle and outcome of WOTP. The purpose of this paper is to explore the purpose, application, challenges, advantages and disadvantages of WOTP.

Social learning theory was applied to investigate the fundamental principle of WOTP.

The implication of WOTP to human resource development (HRD) discipline was discussed, and three propositions were created in this paper.

This paper is expected to contribute to adult education and HRD research and practices on promoting gender equality in the workplace and to provoke dialogue about a training strategy – WOTP.

The purpose of this paper is to first, synthesize employee characteristics that have been shown to help expatriate adjustment into best practices that can aid in expatriate selection. Second, the authors aim to identify training design variables that can be implemented to not only increase learning and expatriate adjustment, but also to maximize the benefits of employee characteristics. Finally, the authors point out environmental factors that are often overlooked, but yet important influencing forces of expatriate adjustment.

PsychINFO was searched using variations of the following terms: expatriate selection and expatriate training. For the selection criteria, the authors selected articles in which cross-cultural adjustment, expatriate performance, or learning was the dependent variable. Reference sections of these articles were then cross-referenced for additional support. Authors then double-coded every article independently to record variables, study methodology, and research results.

The authors have identified cultural intelligence, learning orientation, technical KSAO's, and language skills to be the most significant antecedents of expatriate adjustment. Furthermore, the authors have found environmental factors (i.e. organizational, family, and interpersonal support) to play a crucial role in the adjustment process. The authors have also identified training factors (i.e. content, process, and elements) to be crucial, and the authors propose how these design variables further facilitate learning and adjustment.

This manuscript contributes to the extant expatriate adjustment literature by providing a new, integrative framework. While the individual variables explored within the paper have been examined in past research, this manuscript is the first to offer a framework which integrates them to shape future research.

Freddie Mercury rose to fame as the lead singer of the UK pop group Queen. The group started working on tracks for their fourteenth studio album, Innuendo, in early 1989, and the album was finally released in February 1991. Progress on recording was slow as Mercury, who had been diagnosed with AIDS, was unable to work for more than a few days at a time. Innuendo became the final Queen album to be released during Mercury’s lifetime, and ‘The Show Must Go On’ is its final track. Its placing is arguably significant, given that both Mercury and the remaining band members must have assumed that this would be the last album that they would record together. In this chapter, I present an analysis of the song’s music and lyrics, along with the music video that accompanied the single release, with reference to Mercury’s illness and his wish to contribute vocals for as long as he possibly could, knowing the seriousness of his condition meant that this would be one of his last recordings.