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The authors explain what separates "impact players" in workplaces from other individuals who, while smart and capable, are less impactful to organizational success. They talked to 170 leaders at Adobe, Google, LinkedIn, NASA, Salesforce, SAP, Splunk, Stanford Health, and Target. A major differentiator is how impact players approach problems and challenges, categorized in their words as: Messy Problems, Unclear Roles, Unforeseen Obstacles, Moving Targets, and Unrelenting Demands. The authors contend that "these challenges don't typically amount to major crises, but they are all situations fraught with ambiguity and uncertainty, scenarios where people can easily feel out of control." Impact Players tend to see these situations and take action through an Opportunity Lens, while others use a Threat Lens. The authors identify five practices (identified in depth in the article), which in their words are (1) Do the Job That's Needed; (2) Step Up, then Step Back; (3) Finish Stronger; (4) Ask and Adjust; (5) Make Work Light. In order to wear opportunity goggles, four techniques are explained: (1) Recognize Ambiguous Situations; (2) Check Your Lens; (3) Reframe the Situation; (4) Replace with an Opportunity Lens. Recognize also that that "one's impact level is not necessarily static throughout their career: growth is possible." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author contends that with the explosion of workplace collaboration, the benefits have been accompanied by "significantly less time for focused individual work, thoughtful reflection and sound decision‐making." This leads to stress, burnout, and unhappy organizations. "Network analysis," he says, "enables leaders to map patterns of collaboration and information flow between people within their organizations. It provides a way of both visualizing group connectivity and quantitatively profiling network dimensions that relate to individual performance and well‐being." His research reveals that part of what causes these problems can be the beliefs executives hold about collaboration and being more productive and helpful to others. These beliefs included, in the author's words: (1) Identity and reputation triggers such as too great a desire to help, sense of fulfillment from accomplishment, desire to be influential or recognized for expertise, concern about being labeled a poor performer, teammate, or leader and need to be right and (2) anxiety and need for control triggers such as fear of losing control, need for closure, discomfort with ambiguity, and FOMO/Fear of Missing Out. He concludes with a checklist for effectiveness, including more streamlined emails and efficient use of email norms, and holding structured meetings focused on desired outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents several strategies for effective cross-cultural interactions. Topics discussed include recommendation for active listening which is a useful way to overcome barriers to effective communication; need for effective and open communication; and tolerating ambiguity doesn't necessarily mean that you deliberately avoid ambiguous situations.

Healthcare assistants (HCAs) are an integral part of the workforce in acute NHS hospitals. They carry out a variety of roles depending on the needs of the clinical area in which they work. However, there are no nationally agreed training standards for HCAs and consequently they work to varying levels of ability and skill. This article explores the education and training opportunities that are available to HCAs in acute NHS hospitals and the problems associated with accessing them. It also discusses how training HCAs to a uniform standard is an important requisite for the regulation of this workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the scope of practice speech-language pathology and the challenges in the expansion of roles for speech-language pathologists (SLPs). It discusses the factors affecting the scope of practice between SLPs and other professions. It also notes the efforts of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) to address role ambiguity in speech-language pathology. INSET: "Encroachment" Survey Highlights.

Dame Chris Beasley talks to Adele Waters about her vision for the future of ward sisters and charge nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights some of the advantages and disadvantages between fixed- and floating-point digital signal processing implementations. Determining the maximal absolute value of a self-ambiguity function lies at the center of a military-radar application. This function emerges as the result of the cross-correlation of a sent test signal with the received echo. Another easy analysis is choosing between fixed- and floating-point operation for a mobile-television application. Unlike the mobile-system example, a professional-audio-effects processor has no hard limit on power consumption because these processors usually plug into a wall outlet.

The article presents an interview with Camilla Grudova including stories included in her collection, her views regarding ambiguity, and impact of training in art history over writing.

The article presents views of the author on use of out-of-place words and phrases in news stories known as dangling modifier. Topics discussed include dangler being defined as out-of-place and unmoored word attached to the wrong noun, dangler that begins the sentence being the most common type of dangler, impact of its use on casting a confusion on writer's intent and relevance of weak quotations for writing.

The article focuses on the standard use of comma in journalism. Topics discussed include the importance of using the Oxford serial comma to avoid ambiguity, an excerpt from the guide "Modern American Usage," by Wilson Follet, et. al, and the unanimous recommendation by experts to use the serial comma which other writers omit. Also cited are the writing manuals that suggest the use of serial comma such as the "McGraw-Hill Style Manual" and "The Copy Editor's Handbook," by Amy Einsohn.

In this article different opinions are offered regarding whether general practice (GP) receptionists should have an expanded role as healthcare support workers. Supporters of the plan believe that so long as the receptionists are trained adequately, they should be allowed to function in the dual role. Those who oppose the plan argue that the two roles should remain separate in order to reassure patients that their health providers at all levels have distinct roles.

In this article the author reflects on the ambiguity of information. It notes that people get really confused with the meaning of the word "confusion," because first, it is an important word and that it became important because of Claude Shannon who uses the word in various ways in his theory. It mentions that the a good source of the meaning of important is the memoir of English inventor and mathematician Charles Babbage who designed gear-based computers that anticipated the present computer.

An interview is presented with author Elliot Holt. Holt discusses her experiences as a U.S. expatriate living in Moscow, Russia from 1997-1999. She says her depiction of Russia in her 2013 novel "You Are One of Them" was taken from those experiences. Holt states that she deliberately left the ending of her mystery story ambiguous to the reader.

The article discusses the pitfalls of newspaper and magazine headline writing. In particular, unintended double entendres in headlines are discussed. Several examples of puns and ambiguities in headlines are presented, with unintentional sexual, violent, or humorous implications for the news reader.

The author reflects on the need for the aggregate industry to adapt to rules and regulations. He mentions black-and-white television sets as metaphor for the ambiguity of rules and regulations. He delineates several questions to consider in order to determine whether a rule or regulation can be adapted to the situation of a particular company, including the presence of restricted clearance, the need to stack or store materials and the potential hazard involved in storing or stacking materials. He notes that rules and regulations offer options.

A new breed of healthcare worker could threaten the existing role of the nurse practitioner, unions have warned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]