Experts Matter. Find Yours.

Sixers' summer soap opera: What the Harden-Morey rift can teach us about organizational dynamics

Did star point guard James Harden quit on the Philadelphia 76ers? Or did general manager Daryl Morey break his promise that a large contract would be coming his way after the former MVP took a pay cut last season? As is almost always the case, the answer sits somewhere in the middle, and that's a complicated place for it to be. But Kyle Emich, professor of management at the University of Delaware, said there are lessons in the latest Sixers' offseason debacle that can be applied to teams and culture in the workplace: When you are part of an organization, you need to feel what's called "task significance" to be motivated to do your job. This means that you need to feel that your job has a positive impact on the organization or broader society. The problems between Harden and Morey indicate that, although playing for the fans may give him some motivation, he no longer believes that the organization is a positive entity. This will greatly decrease his motivation, which influences practice and on-the-court performance (assuming he goes back on his threat to return). There is an even larger potential influence on things he is not paid for, but that are very important for the 76ers (such as informal mentoring of players like rising star Tyrese Maxey; acting as a role model (e.g., arriving early/leaving late), giving the organization positive press and his presence and demeanor at training camp (which he says he won't attend). Whether or not people realize it, organizations are emotional environments. Different emotions do different things and this sense of betrayal and anger is likely to make Harden actively move against the Sixers. This is obviously not ideal. Because Harden is a role model, we need to also be aware of emotional contagion. It is possible teammates will look at the front office with increased scrutiny, which will harm any new players brought in or anyone affected by front office moves. Emich is available for interviews, and can be contacted directly by clicking on his profile.

Bioenergy experts welcome commitment to sustainability in UK’s new Biomass Strategy

New strategy outlines role of biomass in UK’s transition to net zero, with sustainability as major theme Supergen Bioenergy Hub experts worked with government departments to provide scientific evidence and insight They welcome the holistic view of sustainability in the Biomass Strategy and call for action to deliver its ambitions. A group of bioenergy experts have welcomed the Government’s new UK Biomass Strategy, but say urgent action is now vital to shape its ambitions into deliverable policies. Researchers at the Supergen Bioenergy Hub - led by Aston University - worked closely with government departments to provide scientific evidence to inform the strategy, which outlines the role biomass will play in supporting the UK’s transition to net zero and how this will be achieved. Professor Patricia Thornley, who leads the Hub, says: “This is a comprehensive and considered biomass strategy that, rightly, places sustainability at the heart of UK bioenergy development. The challenge is now to produce actions that can deliver the sustainable system of biomass required to achieve net zero.” Sustainability is a major theme within the new strategy. It includes a review of how existing sustainability policies could be improved, as well as a commitment to developing a cross-sectoral sustainability framework (subject to consultation) to ensure sustainability across the many different applications of biomass. This follows previous work led by Dr Mirjam Rӧder, Systems Topic Group Lead in the Supergen Bioenergy Hub, calling for harmonised sustainability standards across different biomass applications, which is referenced in the strategy. Dr Rӧder says: “We need rigorous approaches to sustainability governance that go beyond emissions. Considering wider environmental, social and economic trade-offs is essential for true sustainability and building trust in bioenergy projects.” The strategy considers the amount of biomass resource that might be available to the UK in the future, highlighting the importance of both imported and domestically produced biomass resources. Professor Thornley comments: “It is important that the strategy recognises the potential of imported as well as indigenous biomass in achieving global greenhouse gas reductions. Sustainable systems should grow, convert and use biomass in the locations where they can deliver most impact, ensuring we take account of all supply chain emissions. We shouldn’t shy away from imports where the source is sustainable and the overall system makes environmental, economic and social sense.” The strategy also considers how biomass should be prioritised across a variety of applications to best support the transition to net zero. Biomass applications ranging from transport fuels and hydrogen to domestic and industrial heating are recognised as important, but in the medium to long term the focus is on integration of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). BECCS is an emerging technology where the CO2 that may be released during the production and use of electricity, fuels or products derived from biomass is captured and stored, potentially resulting in negative emissions. Professor Thornley comments: “The priority use framework outlined in the Biomass Strategy makes eminent sense. The UK (and the global energy system) needs carbon dioxide removals to deliver net zero. BECCS has an absolutely key role to play, as reflected in the strategy. Again, while this is encouraging to see, we must not underestimate the challenges of moving towards such a radically different system at scale.” “Relying on future BECCS deployment alone to counterbalance the current excess of greenhouse gas emissions would not enable the full potential and benefits of BECCS. BECCS should be deployed alongside measures to transition away from the use of fossil fuels, not instead of them,” adds Dr Joanna Sparks, Biomass Policy Fellow at the Supergen Bioenergy Hub, who engaged closely with government departments as they developed the strategy. Dr Sparks led an extensive policy engagement and knowledge transfer process to ensure that those developing the strategy had full access to the breadth and depth of UK scientific and engineering academic expertise, ensuring a robust, independent scientific base. Professor Thornley believes continued engagement between policymakers, academics and the wider sector is vital in achieving the next steps in the delivery of the Government’s strategy. She says: “The key to successful long-term results is a close partnership between academia, industry and policy stakeholders so that we can anticipate problems and plan the pathways to success.”

Aston University crisis management expert aids disaster relief whilst on holiday

Dr Komal Aryal has been supporting mountain tribal communities in Taiwan after a typhoon hit the country, causing US$15m of damage He has been working with various groups to aid civil disaster relief Typhoon Khanun caused debris flows, floods and landslides that blocked transport links affecting thousands of farmers and hundreds of tourists. Aston University crisis management expert Dr Komal Aryal has been helping a humanitarian effort in Asia following a typhoon. Dr Aryal was touching down in Taiwan as part of his holiday when heavy rain, in the wake of Typhoon Khanun, hit the mountainous areas of the country on Saturday 5 August 2023. The typhoon caused debris flows, floods and landslides that blocked transport links affecting over 22,000 mountain farmers and left hundreds of tourists stranded. It’s estimated around US$15m worth of damage has been done following the disaster. Dr Aryal has been working with the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) to manage a local humanitarian support camp based at the Wugong Village Puli Township and aid Taiwan's civil disaster relief. He called on his expertise in crisis and disaster management to begin coordinating the humanitarian response to the typhoon, before meeting with the Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen, through the PCT at the local humanitarian response site. He has also helped in the clean-up at houses that have been affected by the typhoon-induced debris flow. Dr Aryal said: “As I was landing in Taiwan on Saturday night, a typhoon hit the country. “The initial disaster incident report came to Taipei from a remote mountain location and my colleagues from PCT informed me about it, so I offered my help for the initial local humanitarian repose coordination and spontaneous volunteers management. “Since then, I have helped to provided technical assistance to set up a local crisis/disaster/humanitarian coordination office and humanitarian logistic management system for immediate crisis response. “It has provided me a great opportunity to transfer Aston University’s crisis and disaster management knowledge to real crisis and disaster situation to help mountain tribe communities in Taiwan.” Dr Aryal has now returned to Taipei after handing over all the technical coordination to local experts.

Analysis of evacuations and preparedness as deadly wildfires continue to rage in Hawaii

The University of Delaware's Disaster Research Center boasts several experts who can provide insight into preparedness, evacuation efforts and recovery in regards to the deadly wildfires that are ravaging Hawaii. Tricia Wachtendorf: Evacuation decision-making, disaster response and coordination, disaster relief (donations) and logistics, volunteer and emergent efforts, social vulnerability. James Kendra: Disaster response, nursing homes and hospitals, volunteers, response coordination. Sarah DeYoung: Pets in emergencies, infant feeding in disasters and decision-making in evacuation. Specifically related to Hawaii: "Hawaii is really unique with animals because they have more progressive policies than many mainland states but of course, limited space." Jennifer Trivedi: Challenges for people with disabilities during disaster, cultural issues and long-term recovery. If you'd like to set up an interview with any of these experts, simply click on their profile.

Study reveals how stereotypes undermine diversity efforts in the workplace

Although they were released well before the "Barbie" movie crushed it at the box office, recent findings by a group of University of Delaware researchers could have been used as fodder for a scene in the film. Kyle Emich, a professor of management at the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, along with former UD colleagues Rachel Amey and Chad Forbes, wanted to know why women’s knowledge often gets ignored in the workplace, and how to improve that situation. Drawing on both a problem-solving group exercise and measurements of brain activity, their findings, published by the journal Small Group Research, illustrate ways stereotypes and attitudes can stifle the benefits of diversity efforts. At the same time, the study also offers hope for solutions. Key takeaways: While women are often urged to fight for status, the onus should actually be placed on high-status men to respect and accept women’s expertise. - Teams in the group exercise made up of two men and one woman were less effective. Women often struggled to speak up when they were in the minority. Also, the more minority women on these teams shared key information, the less respect they got from their team. The findings, Emich and his team said, confirm the idea that a lack of respect for minorities undermines the benefit of diversity. They also argue that while the burden is often put on women to make sure they have a voice, men in power should also bear this responsibility. Emich, who studies group dynamics and performance in work settings and examines how emotions influence cognitive processing, is available for interviews. Click on his profile below to set one up.

ChristianaCare expands Health Literacy Partnership through Support from Highmark Health

ChristianaCare has received an $80,000 grant from Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) Delaware to support the Health Literacy Council of Delaware. Funded through Highmark’s BluePrints for the Community grant program, the money will be used to fund education and awareness for clinicians and other caregivers on best practices in making health care information much easier for patients to understand. “Health literacy is essential to good health,” said Greg O’Neill, MSN, APRN, AGCNS-BC, director of Patient & Family Health Education at ChristianaCare. “Personal health literacy is the degree to which individuals are able to find, understand and use information and services to inform their health-related decisions and actions. At ChristianaCare we are committed to communicating with our patients in ways that enable them to understand so that they can make informed decisions and achieve their best health. “We are deeply grateful that Highmark Health Options shares our commitment to health literacy. Their generous grant will enable us to support our caregivers in their efforts to deliver clear, consistent communication to every patient in every interaction, improving their lives.” In addition to work within health care in Delaware through the Health Literacy Council, the grant also will be used by ChristianaCare to provide education in the community to support increased health literacy and enable people to make informed, healthy choices. Housed by the Delaware Community Foundation, Highmark’s BluePrints for the Community has contributed over $35 million to the community since its inception in 2007. It was established to increase access to care and reduce health care disparities in Delaware. In addition to ChristianaCare, the Health Literacy Council of Delaware is supported by the Delaware Division of Public Health and the University of Delaware’s Partnership for Healthy Communities. “Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware and Highmark Health Options are actively engaged with statewide literacy improvement efforts and are pleased to support the Health Literacy Council of Delaware,” said Nick Moriello, president of Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware. “By ensuring Delawareans have the tools and resources they need to understand their health information, while simultaneously making inclusive accommodations as health care organizations, we can promote better health decisions and ultimately improve health outcomes.”

Managed retreat: Could this "extreme" move be one of the best ways of dealing with climate change?

Climate change is wreaking havoc on every part of the world right now. Coastal towns are seeing more consistent floods, inland cities are being plagued by droughts and fires and regions unaccustomed to deadly high temperatures are struggling to adapt.  A.R. Siders, assistant professor in the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration and the Department of Geography and a core faculty member of the Disaster Research Center, looks at climate change and the impact it is having on communities.  One solution she poses for regions being pummeled by climate change is managed retreat. The idea is to plan an exit strategy for a community before these life-altering events occur. One such example is Valmeyer, Ill. In 1993, back-to-back floods swamped the town, officials simply moved their residents to higher ground. Siders can discuss the advantages to this seemingly extreme move and other ways communities can deal with climate change. She has been featured in multiple national outlets including The New York Times, NPR and Vice. She is available for interviews. Click "View Profile" to connect with her. 

Aston Business School announces strategic partnership with ISACA

It will help ABS graduates optimise their career potential with industry leading credentials in cyber security and risk management Aston University’s Cyber Security Innovation Centre has gained ISACA Accredited Training Organisation (ATO) status The partnership forms an Academic Centre of Excellence (ACoE) at Aston Business School. The Cyber Security Innovation (CSI) Centre at Aston University has announced a strategic partnership and the formation of an Academic Centre of Excellence with the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA). It will provide an added value for ABS graduates through taking ISACA certifications to optimise their career potential. Dr Anitha Chinnaswamy, a senior lecturer in cyber security management at the CSI Centre at Aston Business School, said: “There is an acute shortage of skills in the cyber security sector and we are delighted to be leading the field of executive education of future professionals under the recognition of a Centre of Excellence.” The CSI Centre and ISACA UK Central Chapter have been working together for the past four years, with both parties being ISACA ATOs (Accredited Training Organisations) in their own right, delivering high quality virtual and face-to-face instructor-led training which is helping delegates to achieve exam success and benefit from network membership of over 170,000 cyber professionals world wide. ISACA UK Central celebrated its 30 year anniversary in 2023. Their instructors are working consultants, with a wealth of experience as chief information security officers (CISOs), risk managers and IT audit directors, bringing the topic to life using real examples and practical knowledge. Professor Zoe Radnor, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the College of Business and Social Sciences at Aston University, said: “Taking our executive education in the cyber security direction is a strategic priority as Aston University has positioned itself as leader in digital technologies. The CSI Centre of Excellence underscores this priority.” Professor Helen Higson, deputy dean of Aston Business School, said: “The CSI Centre academics are always forward looking at the new demands in education and have created a dynamic set of postgraduate offering highly relevant in the market.” Professor Aleks Subic, Chief Executive and Vice-Chancellor of Aston University, said: “In line with our 2030 strategy focused on establishing Aston University as a leader in digital innovation, the Centre of Excellence represents an important step towards making Aston University a sector leader in cyber security.”

#Expert Insight: US Firms 20 Years Out of Date on Customer Diversity

Diversity, equity, and inclusion have steadfastly risen to the top of corporate agendas in the U.S. and elsewhere over the course of the last few years. From 2022, all 100 of the Fortune 100 companies had clearly-defined diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives outlined on their websites—good news for their workforce, suppliers, and distributors. But what about their customers? A landmark new study by Goizueta Business School’s Omar Rodriguez-Vila finds that while intra-organizational DEI efforts are robust, many U.S. firms are lagging behind societal reality when it comes to fully representing diversity in their marketplace actions. Rodriguez-Vila finds that in terms of skin type, body type, and physical (dis)ability, actions by the top 50 American brands are a good 20 years behind the current demographic makeup of the country. Rodriguez-Vila, who is a professor in the practice of marketing at Goizueta, has teamed with Dionne Nickerson of the University of Indiana’s Kelley School of Business, and Sundar Bharadwaj of The University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, to measure brand inclusivity; a term that he and his colleagues have coined to describe how well brands serve underrepresented consumer communities. Inclusive brands, he says, are those that “enhance consumers’ perceptions of acceptance, belonging, equity, and respect through their actions and market offerings.” To assess how well some of the biggest firms are doing in terms of this kind of marketplace inclusivity, Rodriguez-Vila worked with a team of full-time MBA and undergraduate students[1] to assess the 50 most valuable brands across 10 consumer-facing industries. Using machine learning and human coders they analyzed these brands’ social media posts on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, looking for patterns of representational diversity across four measures: skin type; body type; hair type; and physical ability. Altogether, they processed just short of 11,000 social media posts made between June 2021 and July 2022. What they find is stunning. “We used our data to apply the Simpson’s Diversity Index (SDI) to the population of social media posts by the largest brands in the United States. The SDI is a commonly used equation to measure the diversity of a population,” says Rodriguez-Vila. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the racial diversity index of the country is 61 percent, and has been consistently increasing over the past 20 years. Applying the SDI calculation to measure the diversity in social media messages is a novel idea and one that provides clarity on the state of inclusion in brand communications, he adds. We found that the racial diversity index of social media messages by the top U.S. brands was just 41%. The last time the racial diversity index was in that range was in the year 2000. Omar Rodriguez-Vila In other words, the racial diversity these brands are collectively representing in their messages is 20 years behind the reality of the country. Interestingly, this lag between representation and demographic reality is common to brands in virtually all of the industries studied—from airlines to fashion, consumer packaged goods to financial services, hospitality to retail. The only sector that bucks the trend in any substantive way, he says, is beauty; even then this is likely only because beauty firms have come under fire for underrepresenting Black and non-white customers in the recent past. “Brands’ social media is typically more nuanced and comprehensive than advertising, so it’s more telling as a measure of what they prioritize. And by this measure, we’re seeing systemic bias across a majority of industries,” says Rodriguez-Vila. “Some, like beauty, fare better than others, but then beauty arguably has the strongest business case for diversity.” That being said, there is a robust business case for organizations across all industries to do better in marketplace inclusion. Not only does representational diversity have the potential to open up new markets, new customer bases, and areas for expansion, but “Feeling represented and included matters to everyone,” says Rodriguez-Vila. “To understand the importance of inclusion to customers we used a discrete choice model where people made trade-offs between price and a collection of product features in order to understand the factors that motivated them to make a purchase,” he explains. “We tested a sample of consumers looking to buy sportswear, and we added representation of diversity and inclusion as a characteristic, to see if it had any impact on their choices.” Again, the results are stunning. On average, 51 percent of customers took inclusion into account as a primary driver of athletic apparel choices. Inclusion was a priority driver of choice among 38 percent of consumers in historically well-represented communities—slim, white, able-bodied people. When Rodriguez-Vila and his colleagues expanded the analysis to other historically under-represented groups they found a significantly greater impact. Here, inclusion was a primary driver among 61 percent of plus-size, Black consumers and for 87 percent of consumers that identified as non-binary. In other words, inclusion can be a critically important factor to a majority of customers who are making decisions about whether to purchase products and services, or not. The marketplace is changing, says Rodriguez-Vila, and brands need new ways of understanding their customer base if they are to avoid missing out on opportunities. To this end, he, Nickerson and Bharadwaj are working with three of the firms in their study, piloting a range of interventions designed to accelerate marketplace inclusion. They have partnered with Sephora, Conde Nast, and Campbells to roll out specific practices both in the workplace and the marketplace—from advocacy to communication and commercial practices to things like greater diversity in marketing operations, and in talent recruitment practices. Early indicators are promising, says Rodriquez-Vila. “Our work is set to deliver tools that will help firms normalize and institutionalize marketplace inclusion as a function of their day-to-day operations. And it’s exciting to see a shift in thinking about DEI—from an exclusive focus on the workplace and how you eliminate bias within the organization, to practices that are geared also to eliminating bias in the way you serve markets.” Looking to know more?  Connect with Omar Rodriguez-Vila today.  Comply click on his icon now to arrange a time to talk.

CorpusCast with Dr Robbie Love: Dr Miloš Jakubíček on Sketch Engine

The latest episode of the Aston Originals podcast, CorpusCast with Dr Robbie Love, offers listeners a peek into the remarkable evolution of Sketch Engine, the ground-breaking corpus query and management system developed by Lexical Computing. In this episode, Dr Miloš Jakubíček, the CEO of Lexical Computing, takes centre stage to narrate the fascinating journey of Sketch Engine. As an accomplished NLP researcher and software engineer, Dr Jakubíček’s profound expertise in the intersection of corpus linguistics, computational linguistics and lexicography promises to unravel the story behind one of the most widely used and celebrated corpus platforms in existence. For over 20 years, Sketch Engine has been a cornerstone of research in various domains, including lexicography, language learning and, naturally, corpus linguistics. This episode delves into the origins of Sketch Engine, tracing its growth from its inception to its current status as a trusted companion of linguists, researchers and language enthusiasts worldwide. Listeners will get an insider's perspective on the monumental impact of Sketch Engine in processing vast text corpora and deciphering morphologically rich languages. Dr Jakubíček sheds light on the tool's pivotal role in advancing research in these areas, reflecting on its dynamic journey from conception to its position as a game-changing resource for language professionals. Meanwhile Dr Love is thrilled to present this engaging episode, which coincides with the announcement made at the recent Corpus Linguistics Conference. With excitement resonating in his voice, Dr Love shared that Aston University, alongside Birmingham City University and the University of Birmingham, will co-host the upcoming Corpus Linguistics Conference in 2025. This exciting news, revealed during the conference in Lancaster, promises to gather linguists, researchers and enthusiasts in Birmingham for an event that is expected to be a milestone in the world of linguistic exploration. Don't miss out on this riveting episode, where the past, present and future of corpus linguistics converge through the lens of Sketch Engine. Tune in for an enlightening conversation with Dr Miloš Jakubíček, available here and on all major podcast platforms. Dr Robbie Love ? https://bit.ly/3Zcgo36 Dr Miloš Jakubíček ? https://bit.ly/3DHBgWF Aston Centre for Applied Linguistics ? https://bit.ly/3QKHcSF School of Social Sciences and Humanities ? https://bit.ly/3JCRAd1 Find out more about courses related to this show ? https://bit.ly/3pR705k #linguistics #corpuslinguistics #astonuniversity