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Can productivity improve if workers identify more with the skills they use in their work environment? This paper reports the results of an experimental design that was peer‐reviewed prior to collecting data. The research setting is a global manufacturer using a novel smartwatch‐based system for distributing work tasks among factory floor workers. Drawing on the concepts of identification and helping in organizations, we hypothesized that fostering workers' identification with their own skills could serve as a mechanism to enhance helping behavior on the factory floor, which should improve productivity. We designed a compound skill‐fostering treatment consisting of communication, meetings, and exercises regarding individual skills. We treat one large factory area for 2 weeks and keep a similar area in a sister factory as a control group for comparison in a difference‐in‐difference model. The results show that nudging skill identification increases workers' identification with skills, but we do not find evidence for increased helping behavior or increased productivity. Our results help develop theory around multiple sub‐identities and provide guidance for future studies seeking to enhance identification in organizations. Highlights: A 4‐week‐long field intervention was conducted in a digitalized factory aiming to increase workers' identification with their skills.The experimental design was reviewed and accepted by the JOM Editors before data collection.Identification with skills increased and emotional exhaustion decreased.Expected positive effects of the treatment on helping behavior and productivity were not supported.Managers and future studies should try to disentangle identification with skills and machines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this editorial for our special topic forum (STF) on Global Supply Chain Research, we present a novel approach that empowers firms to evaluate their supply chain complexity's current state and potentially reveal hidden patterns of complexity. Our focus lies in developing a configurational understanding of global supply chain complexity, leveraging the diverse perspectives, and insights provided by the existing literature on this subject. Furthermore, we shed light on exciting opportunities for future research and introduce the accepted research papers featured in this STF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We aimed to demonstrate the effects of tumor treating fields (TTFields) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells when combined with radiotherapy (RT) and chemotherapy. Methods: Two human HNSCC cell lines (Cal27, FaDu) received five different treatments: TTFields, RT +/− TTFields and RT + simultaneous cisplatin +/− TTFields. Effects were quantified using clonogenic assays and flow cytometric analyses of DAPI, caspase‐3 activation and γH2AX foci. Results: Treatment with RT + TTFields decreased the clonogenic survival as strong as treatment with RT + simultaneous cisplatin. The triple combination of RT + simultaneous cisplatin + TTFields even further decreased the clonogenic survival. Accordingly, combination of TTFields with RT or RT + simultaneous cisplatin increased cellular apoptosis and DNA double‐strand breaks. Conclusion: TTFields therapy seems a promising combination partner in the multimodal treatment of locally advanced HNSCC. It could be used to intensify chemoradiotherapy or as alternative to chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations often use cross‐functional teams to make key Operations and Supply Chain Management decisions, but doing so risks instigating conflict between team members since cross‐functional delegates often have opposing functional goals. While previous work has explored the effect of functional goals (i.e., external motivation) in cross‐functional team performance, we extend research in this area to incorporate individual team members' psychological needs (i.e., internal motivation). Specifically, we consider how the interplay of these motivational mechanisms can lead to status conflict within the team, and the ensuing implications on team performance. We conduct an experiment of 136 ad hoc team‐based sourcing decisions, complemented with a sequential qualitative study involving interviews with 37 practicing managers. The results show that functional goal misalignment leads to status conflict, as expected. Yet, counterintuitively, this effect can be mitigated with the team's composition in individual psychological needs for dominance, specifically with heterogeneously dominant individuals. Our study contributes to the behavioral operations management literature on sourcing teams and to the team motivation literature. We provide guidance on how managers can compose cross‐functional teams to improve decision outcomes considering the interplay of external and internal motivational mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many strategic decisions concerning firms' operations and supply chain management (OSCM) are executed in teams of multiple functional specialists, to reap the proven benefits of internal integration. However, specialists bring with them not only diverse expertise, but also diverse goals and incentive structures. We examine how functional goal misalignment and the distribution of knowledge of who knows what (metaknowledge) affect self‐serving politics and the performance of cross‐functional teams. To test our model, we develop a vignette‐based social team experiment and analyze data from 468 participants grouped in 156 sourcing teams. Our results provide evidence for both catalyst and inverse‐catalyst effects of the distribution of metaknowledge. Specifically, under goal alignment, centralized metaknowledge leads to the catalyzation of cross‐functional expertise, reducing team politics and enhancing team performance. However, under goal misalignment, centralized metaknowledge significantly amplifies team politics and reduces performance via mediation. We contribute to the growing body of research on behavioral OSCM at the team level of analysis by offering theoretical and practical implications for the design of team integration processes from the perspective of organizational politics and group cognition. We also provide management with clear design recommendations regarding how to govern cross‐functional OSCM teams in terms of functional goals and the distribution of metaknowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic sourcing is carried out in cross‐functional teams to account for the complexity and multidimensionality of modern procurement decisions. However, such teams not only enable the integration of distinct interdependent skill sets and viewpoints, they are also characterized by functional goal misalignment. We focus on the resulting behavioral challenges, namely conflict and politics, and their effects on team satisfaction and rationality, which ultimately leads to observed outcomes. We test our hypotheses in a structural equation model based on data gathered from 468 participants in a social team experiment. We find a mediated effect of goal misalignment on political behavior via two types of team conflict. Political behavior, in turn, obstructs rational team sourcing decisions and reduces team members' satisfaction with the process. Our study indicates that behavioral challenges in the framework of Organizational Buying Behavior not only co‐occur but affect each other via mediation. Hence, managers need to closely monitor the escalation chains' origin, task conflict, which constitutes a necessary condition for further emotional dissent and political biasing. We contribute to the understanding of the challenges in cross‐functional sourcing teams, thereby providing advice to executives in their pursuit to rationalize and improve sourcing team decisions and their outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local recurrence after radiotherapy is common in locally advanced head and neck cancer (HNC) patients. Re-irradiation can improve local disease control, but disease progression remains frequent. Hence, predictive biomarkers are needed to adapt treatment intensity to the patient's individual risk. We quantified circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in sequential plasma samples and correlated ctDNA levels with disease outcome. Ninety four longitudinal plasma samples from 16 locally advanced HNC patients and 57 healthy donors were collected at re-radiotherapy baseline, after 5 and 10 radiation fractions, at irradiation end, and at routine follow-up visits. Plasma DNA was subjected to low coverage whole genome sequencing for copy number variation (CNV) profiling to quantify ctDNA burden. CNV-based ctDNA burden was detected in 8/16 patients and 25/94 plasma samples. Ten additional ctDNA-positive samples were identified by tracking patient-specific CNVs found in earlier sequential plasma samples. ctDNA-positivity after 5 and 10 radiation fractions (both: log-rank, p = .050) as well as at the end of irradiation correlated with short progression-free survival (log-rank, p = .006). Moreover, a pronounced decrease of ctDNA toward re-radiotherapy termination was associated with worse treatment outcome (log-rank, p = .005). Dynamic ctDNA tracking in serial plasma beyond re-radiotherapy reflected treatment response and imminent disease progression. In five patients, molecular progression was detected prior to tumor progression based on clinical imaging. Our findings emphasize that quantifying ctDNA during re-radiotherapy may contribute to disease monitoring and personalization of adjuvant treatment, follow-up intervals, and dose prescription., (© 2024 The Author(s). International Journal of Cancer published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of UICC.)