(1) Congratulations! Which academic institution did you enroll in? While you go to the PhD level, perhaps you begin to notice that Organizational behavior (OB) is the study of what people think, feel, and do in and around organizations. Very likely you'll become a OB researcher who systematically study individual, team, and organizational-level characteristics that influence behavior within work settings.

(2) It may be that you're already aware of OB seems to get more respect from people who have been in the workforce a while than from students who are just beginning their careers. At first, many specialize in accounting, marketing, information systems, and other fields with corresponding job titles, so it’s understandable that students focus on these career paths. But later, who ever heard of a career path leading to a “COBO (Chief OB Officer)”? Although OB doesn’t have its own job title, most students eventually come to appreciate that this field is a potential gold mine of valuable knowledge. This is made apparent when the leaders in the workforce need to understand, predict, and influence behavior in organizational settings.

(3) And the more you study psychology, the more you understand each of us has an inherent need to understand and predict the world in which we live. Since much of our time is spent working in or around organizations, the growing realization of OB theories are particularly helpful in satisfying this innate drive to make sense of the workplace. Maybe you'll enjoy noticing OB theories give you the opportunity to question and rebuild your personal cognitive and psychological models which have developed through observation and experience.

(4) Understanding and predicting are important, but most of us also need to influence the organization in various ways. Whether you are trying to introduce a new marketing strategy, encourage staff to adopt new information technology, or negotiate more flexible work arrangements with your boss, you’ll find that OB concepts play an important role in performing your job and working more effectively within organizations. And while you wonder that, I want you to discover that the practical side of OB is a critical feature of the best OB theories.



You might be fascinated to discover that Google has leveraged the power of organizational behavior to attract talented employees who want to make a difference in the Internet world.

I have used some of the methods described in Fig. 4.8. But unlike any other methods, TRIZ has tools for finding solutions. TRIZ will complement and fill in the gaps of how to actually find concepts to solve problems.

TRIZ is actually a comprehensive toolkit with simple tools for understanding “what we want” and detailed tools for “system analysis”, which are helpful for everything from invention of new systems to improving old ones. Engineers love finding good solutions and TRIZ offers systematic routes towards the ideal solution places and in addition offers ways of breaking any mental habits which prevent innovation, clarity of understanding and thought, or keep us stuck in the same old solution space. In TRIZ, this is called ‘breaking psychological inertia.’

It's a good motivational anecdote to capricorn89, and it can be better when you tell that “Right Supervisor” is like what?, and What kind of good lab environment is that environment? Maybe you can define the factors as well.

Very likely capricorn89 will treat you with more respect, when you share your beliefs and values later on what’s important to you about having the right supervisor with a good lab environment.

Hi Dr PF T.J.

The increasing number of biotech enterprises in Malaysia is likely to create a need for Bio-engineers in the years to come. Could you tell us what kind of meaningful research contribution you are currently making that brings credit and prestige to Malaysia, especially in the Biotechnology Sector?

(1) Do you carry out Bio-energy research on living organisms that power micro electrical devices?

(2) Do you cultivate some kind of new Bio-farming that is more sustainable alternative to milk, chicken, pork and beef?

(3) Do you build any Biological robots using heart cells of small animals that will get sensor-like qualities?

(4) Do you create synthetic life form that combines advances in 3D printing with biosynthesis and molecular construction, by developing one single machine that can “print” drugs by carefully combining nucleotides, sugars and amino acids?

PF T.J.

I really like your meaningful idea of making "seabird's nest" as alternative to "Shark-fin" in Shark fin soups. Tough it is not known in advance whether the "seabird's nest" substitution will be truly accepted by the Shark fin soups enjoyers, and whether a viable seaweed farming model and ecosystem can be created to sustain them.

BENEFICIAL VALUE PROPOSITION
You and your supervisor should make a value proposition which increases the benefits and reduce the sacrifices that customers perceive as relevant, build on the competences and resources that the Seaweed Farming Sector is able to utilize more effectively than its competitors (Shark-fin Hunters), and be recognizably different (unique) from competition to create competitive advantage. How about working with the Department of Fisheries to make promotional documentary on Seaweed Farming on RTM Channel 2?

STRATEGY
Another strategy could be to implement new technologies that contribute to meeting the societal challenges, without necessarily changing people’s behavior. For example, Unilever has been working to increase the concentration of washing detergents with the aim of reducing the energy used in production and transportation. However, they realized that users tend to increase the amount of detergent used above what is needed for good washing results. Hence they decided to design a powder tablet specifically to counteract this ‘rebound’ effect. The tablet form prevents the use of excessive amounts of powder, and enables users to wash more sustainably.

CHANGING BEHAVIORS
People are not likely to change their behavior if it requires a sacrifice. Some users might be willing to make a sacrifice to some extent if their motivational values are of the universalism kind. However, many more people are likely to change their behavior if a pleasurable experience is offered, and the innovation addresses their motivational values.

EXAMPLE
As an example, if people need to change their eating habits to live healthier lifestyles, they might be willing to sacrifice by preparing fresh food themselves if they are given recipes that match their personal taste. However, if the recipes provided take more time to prepare and cook, and this extra time does not fit their lifestyles and other activities, not many people will stick to cooking the healthier recipes. After a while they will return to microwaving the same prepared food that they used to eat before.

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Added on January 4, 2013, 12:26 am(1) Can Malaysia produce the kind of seaweed better than Japanese Nori?

(2) Can we have Family-Friendly Farming of Seaweed for small consumption?

(3) Can you think of something that expand the seabird's nest to other widely-accepted applications?

(4) If your method is patentable, have you filed any patent application for the efficient Seaweed Farming process?

This post has been edited by Critical_Fallacy: Jan 4 2013, 12:26 AM

Maybe true for Physicists. But most engineering students I met are pretty weak in Partial Differential Equations, Numerical Methods, Engineering Optimization, Vector Analysis, Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors of Real Matrices. Some of them cannot even derive the mathematical modeling of basic or simple dynamic systems. Mathematics is an essential tool for physicists and engineers which students must use from the very beginning of their studies.

Whether Biologists or Engineers, as dedicated researchers, our job is to discover the links between two (or more) apparently unconnected things. Understanding and employing the appropriate research methods and statistics have enabled scientists in their field of expertise to develop models of how the system works, ways to improve the system, methods to improve problem solving at super/sub-system levels, and theories of system dynamics.

P O S S I B L E ! But, what kind of ‘ethical’ issue is that issue?

I'm thinking how to explain this to you. It's a multiple-criteria decision-making issue. Perhaps you want to use TOPSIS to rank or select one of the 3 alternatives that should have the shortest geometric distance from your positive ideal solution.

The Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is a multi-criteria decision analysis method, which was originally developed about 3 decades ago by the Chinese people.

Please be reminded that, although reputable universities at overseas may have wide resources, it does not mean the resources at your local university are of less quality. How effective and efficient also depend on your local university Resource Searching Mechanism and your searching Strategy.

With the help of creative and motivated people in the forum, supported by information and social technologies from your university, and above all with the spirit and drive of visionary people like yours, you and I and not forgetting alexkos, Blofeld & tanji can make this world a better place. Let us focus our energy on realizing what Aristotle defined as: ‘‘the art of living, and living well’’.

Though I’m unsure of how you hypothesized that, I'm interested in Biomimetics! In Innovative R&D, biomimetics is the process of learning from and then emulating nature’s ingenious solutions to complex problems. For example, the Mercedes-Benz Bionic was modeled after a type of fish, the Ostracion cubicus (a boxfish), due to the low coefficient of drag of its body shape and the rigidity of its exoskeleton.



And I wonder if you’ll be curious, as you notice the real-life applications of biomimetics only scratch the surface of this fascinating approach. Nature has spent billions of years designing and perfecting systems and processes, excelling at finding optimal solutions under conflicting constraints and demanding requirements. Scientists and Engineers have similar goals: optimal results with minimal input and minimal use of resources. And if you have to solve a problem, chances are nature already did it.

The idea is attractive to many scientists and indeed to many innovators.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a French philosopher quotes, “The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.” The next example is the science-fiction Predator-inspired innovation. Have you ever thought of having clothing with touchscreen capabilities built right into the fabric? Under Armour is heading toward this idea with its next generation of wearable technology. The purpose is to help measure as well as enhance sports in addition to fitness performance.

Congrats! May I know what kind of computational approach to your research?

Thanks! I did some searching and found this video. So the ligand-based virtual screening is a kind of computer-aided drug design which coupled with virtual combinatorial libraries and fragment spaces in making the drug discovery process more efficient. And your job is to design the new candidate drug and bind it with the tiny proteins (receptors) you model? With different types of virtual screening techniques available, how do you validate the method of systematically exploring the promising areas in chemical space and predict the success? In fact, I was intrigued by the concept of chemical space. And how vast is chemical space?

I appreciate your explanation and I learned something new. Okay! You have completed your magnum opus, submitted it to your thesis committee, and received permission to move onto the final step: defending your doctoral thesis. To be honest, the prospect of this ‘viva voce’ seem extremely daunting to me. Would you describe, what kind of skills have you used to defend your discovery of Novel anti-TB & antibacterial drugs during the oral exam? After all, did you defend with a flamboyant confidence style? Then... what's next? ... Filing a New Drug Application (NDA)? And then how many controlled clinical trials does the new drug need to demonstrate its efficacy? I believe your anecdotes about thesis defense & NDA will be very helpful to the juniors.

Brother alexkos has not shown up on this place for quite some time.

Maybe he has successfully converted... I mean from MPhil to PhD.

You can sign up for the very part-time PhD in Accounting program in USM, Pulau Pinang.

Get the contact of Blofeld's supervisor. If not mistaken, this is Blofeld's 3rd semester...

Huh? You switched to Education like LoveMeNot?

I was under the impression that you took the OB course as compulsory in PhD in Accounting. Sorry!

Are you on the way to publish your paper or to present in any upcoming international conference?

I'm sorry because I cannot answer this. Perhaps Blofeld can shed some light on this matter.

When will you make the decision?