On-line monitoring van transpiratie en fotosynthese: de praktijk

WUR Glastuinbouw heeft monitoren ontwikkeld voor de on-line bepaling van de verdamping en fotosynthese. Deze monitoren zijn uitgetest bij diverse vruchtgroentetelers en slatelers. In het onderzoek is ook een nieuwe transpiratiemonitor ontwikkeld, op basis van een statische energie- en vochtbalan

Multiple interdependencies and workgroup effectiveness

In this thesis I focus on the question how the alignment of interdependency leads to an effective level of performance in work groups or teams. For the continuance of every organization it is important to organize individuals so that their actions are aligned (Heath & Staudenmayer, 2000). In this thesis I claim that the relationship between coordination and effectiveness is still not clearly understood and lacks theoretical clarity and empirical evidence. Where most of the management and organizational design literature focused only on the functional task interdependencies, I suggest that in order to gain more understanding of the complex coordination-performance relationship in groups, other more social types of interdependence need to be considered as well. I introduce in addition to functional interdependence, the constructs of cognitive and affect-based interdependence. I studied the main and integrative effects of these three interdependencies on individual and group performance in three organizational settings.Universiteit Leidende Vier Oude Bolswarder StudielenenSocial decision makin

Does nationality composition affect student groups' collaboration and performance? A cross-case analysis

A Dutch STEM university is aiming to create an inclusive international classroom where diversity is appreciated as an indispensable element of the quality of learning. One aspect of the international classroom is to enable students to acquire international collaboration skills through working in mixed nationality student groups. In a previous interview study, we found that group composition of nationalities has consequences for collaboration, in which having just one 'token' international member group seems particularly ineffective. This paper presents a follow-up observation study that compares collaboration and performance in three compositions of mixed-nationality student groups. We analyzed online meeting recordings, evaluation questionnaires, and self-reflection reports. In the cross-case analysis, we focused on: 1) members' participation in the meetings (frequency of utterances), 2) disagreement episodes (triggers and solutions), and 3) group performance (teachers' grading and students' perceived performance). The results suggest that in the group with one international member, group meeting conversations were skewed towards the domestic Dutch students. This group encountered more process-related disagreements, competitive disagreement solutions, experienced a low level of trust, more emotional discomfort (such as pressure), and experienced less satisfaction. By comparison, in the other two groups where nationality was more equally distributed, members evenly contributed to meetings. These groups were observed to have more task-related disagreements, more information elaboration and agreement solutions, and higher levels of trust, satisfaction, and group belongingness. This observation study contributes to awareness of student diversity effects that allow teachers to take the next step towards facilitating mixed-nationality student groups in the international classroom.</p