Last Friday was a big day for Kyosuke Tanaka, PhD candidate in the Media, Technology, and Society (MTS) Program.

His paper with Dr. Agnes Horvat , “(Un)intended Consequences of Networking in Individual and Network-level Efficiency,” has been accepted for publication in Applied Network Science. In their work, they looked into the differential effects of structural and frequency change on the efficiency of information flow through a network.  Whereas existing literature has focused predominantly on structural change, that is, the addition and deletion of communication ties, their research also pointed to an understudied aspect of personal networking: frequency change (the increase or decrease of communication on existing ties). To study these effects, they conducted simulations of networking approaches on a diverse set of real-world directed weighted communication networks and contributed their findings. Currently, the publication is in press. We will share the link it once it is published.

On the same day, Kyosuke also successfully passed his dissertation prospectus! His proposed title is Toward Understanding Human Information Routing in Communication Networks. His committee members are Drs. Noshir Contractor (advisor), Leslie DeChurch, and Agnes Horvat from Northwestern University, and Dr. Matthew Brashears from University of South Carolina.

Double congratulations to Kyosuke, and we look forward to seeing his dissertation coming along!

Left to Right: Dr. Agnes Horvat, Dr. Leslie DeChurch, Kyosuke Tanaka, Dr. Noshir Contractor.

We are delighted to share that SONIC has three submissions accepted for talk presentations at the 2019 Organizational Communication Mini-Conference!

Our graduate student, Diego Gómez-Zará, will share his thoughts and findings regarding the diversity paradox in team formations. Contrary to the belief that diversity can bring benefits to groups, individuals might avoid working with dissimilar others. Drawing from homophily and diversity theories, he will unfold the interesting and critical results regarding the impact of one’s perception of team diversity and one’s willingness to work with diverse collaborators. 

Kyosuke Tanaka, another graduate student at SONIC, who also recently presented at AoM 2019, will explore the role of networking routing error in a specific context — knowledge sharing in organizations. Whereas the study of errors in routing information (i.e., critical information was not transferred to those needing it, or critical information was not solicited from those who possessed it) has received considerable attention in the field, Kyosuke will further advance existing work by introducing the concept of network acuity to characterize network routing errors.

Yuanxin Wang, visiting scholar from Peking University, will share her insights regarding team processes and their impact on performance in enterprise social media (ESM). To date, there is a lack of research concerning the dynamics of team processes and enterprise social media, despite a rise in the use of online social networks for business interests and activities. Addressing this research gap, Yuanxin will share her observations and findings related to the patterns in the occurrence of transition, action and interpersonal processes across time stages, and how these variations might impact project-based team performance. Her study is based on server logs of ESM data from a Chinese startup company.

Congratulations, Diego, Kyosuke, and Yuanxin, and thank you for all of your hard work!

AoM was definitely an exciting time for SONIC! We are delighted to share that our lab director, Dr. Noshir Contractor, was named this year’s recipient of the Academy of Management’s Organizational Communication & Information Systems (OCIS) Group Life Service Award.  Congratulations, Noshir!

Dr. Alina Lungeanu, will present tomorrow (Aug 13th) in the session “A Matter of Time: Advancing the Study of Team Processes in Extreme Environments.” She will shed light on the topic Leading Teams Over Time Through Space.

Citation:

Lungeanu, A., DeChurch, L. A., & Contractor, N. S. (2019, August). Leading Teams Over Time Through Space. Academy of Management (AoM), Boston, MA.

Congratulations to Dr. Jacqueline Ng Lane for being selected as the Best Dissertation Award Finalist from the Technology & Innovation Management Division at the Academy of Management 2019! Her dissertation topic is “Organizing in the Digital Age: How Team Collaboration Networks Form and Why They Perform.”

Jackie received her PhD in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences (IEMS) at Northwestern University. Currently, she is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Business School conducting research at the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH). She can be reached at jnlane@hbs.edu.

Our lab director, Dr. Noshir Contractor, is this year’s keynote speaker at Organizational Communication & Information Systems (OCIS) Plenary Session. He will speak on the topic “People Analytics: Understanding and Enabling the Future of Work.”

Link to event details

Link to keynote speech (pdf)

Our graduate student, Kyosuke Tanaka, is attending the 79th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management at Boston from August 8th- August 13th to present his work on human information routing in communication network. He will unpack the phenomenon via an organizational perspective and further the current research through developing a novel framework by introducing human cognition. The work he is presenting will be informing his dissertation.

Citation:

Tanaka, K. (2019). Toward Understanding Human Information Routing in Group Communication Networks. Poster to be presented at the 79th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Aug 8-13, Boston, MA, USA.

This study explores how and why scholars find collaborators using team formation systems. Based on theories of teams and human and social capital, we describe how scholars’ traits and social networks influence their team formation processes. We conducted a field study in Argentina in which 43 scholars used an online platform and assembled into eight interdisciplinary teams. Our results show that scholars initially tended to invite prior contacts connections, but eventually, they assembled cohesive interdisciplinary teams with members they did not know before. We conclude by reflecting on how team formation platforms can enable individuals to expand their social capital.

Citation: Gómez-Zará, D., Andreoli, S., DeChurch, L. A., & Contractor, N. S. (2019). Discovering collaborators online: Assembling interdisciplinary teams online at an Argentinian University. Cuadernos.Info, (44), 21-41. https://doi.org/10.7764/cdi.44.1575

 EurekAlert! – “Northwestern study of analog crews in isolation reveals weak spots for Mission to Mars.”

 The Globe and Mail – “NASA experiments suggest problems lie ahead for astronauts during Mars mission.”

 Science Daily – “Weak spots for Mission to Mars revealed.” 

 The Times of India – “Weak spots for Nasa’s manned Mars mission revealed.”

 New Atlas – “Simulated space journeys to help keep the peace on manned trips to Mars.”

 The Daily Galaxy – “Super Humans – NASA Tackles Perils of Astronaut Mission to Mars: 250 Million-Mile Journey.”

 The Economist Babbage Podcast – “Joker AAAStrounauts.” 

 AAAS Annual Meeting – “Building a Winning Team for Missions to Mars.” 

The Economist  – “The problems of flying to Mars – Astronauts will have to worry about space radiation – and also each other.”

 Tech2 – “NASA developing models to predict conflicts among crew members for manned Mars missions.” 

 Global Science – “Pensiero creativo e problem solving: gli umani sfidano Marte.”

 El Comercio – “Marte | Científicos trabajan en modelo para evitar “fallos psicológicos” en futuros viajes.”

EuropaPress – “Un modelo para predecir fallos psicológicos en el viaje a Marte.”

Electronic Component News – “Mars Mission Gets Help from Predictive Model, Helps NASA Anticipate Conflicts.”

Space.com – “Astronauts Struggle with Finishing Tasks on Mock Space Missions.”

CBC Radio – “It’s like a hall of mirrors: In a spacecraft, personalities work better than others.”

Northwestern News – “Northwestern study of analog crews in isolation reveals weak spots for Mission to Mars.” 

cnBeta.com – “西北大学开展模拟太空旅行计划 帮助宇航员更顺利抵达火星”

DigitalJournal.com – “Space agencies preparing for 3-year round-trip journey to Mars.”

rmf24.pl – “Lot na Marsa będzie jeszcze trudniejszy…”

The Daily Northwestern – “Northwestern professors build model for NASA Mars expedition.” 

 North by Northwestern – “On a mission to Mars, teamwork makes the dream work.”

The Times of India – “Mental health of Mars’ crew to be monitored.”

WBEZ – “Who Can Handle Trip To Mars? Northwestern Helps NASA Predict Strains On Astronauts.”

Website Link: https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/who-can-handle-trip-to-mars-northwestern-helps-nasa-predict-strains-on-astronauts/b4dbfec7-f2bc-4ea1-ba62-fa70dce4c592