Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons^™

Social Entrepreneurship And Wealth-Building Plans: Creative Strategies For Working Class Americans, Wayne R. Curtis

Dissertations & Theses

This study investigated how the elements of social entrepreneurship with wealth-building strategies can advance the creation of wealth and serve as a mechanism for social change. This research takes a modest first step toward demystifying social entrepreneurship, better understanding the phenomenon, and exploring the relevance of wealth-building in social entrepreneurial activity. Specifically, this exploratory study used a multiple case study design to understand how existing social entrepreneurial ventures include wealth-building strategies, such as employee stock ownership plans for working class Americans. The concept of social entrepreneurship is relatively new. There is general agreement that the concept combines a passion for ...

Maybe It’S Right, Maybe It’S Wrong: Structural And Social Determinants Of Deception In Negotiation, Mara Olekalns

Mara Olekalns

Context shapes negotiators’ actions, including their willingness to act unethically. Focusing on negotiators use of deception, we used a simulated two-party negotiation to test how three contextual variables - regulatory focus, power, and trustworthiness - interacted to shift negotiators’ ethical thresholds. We demonstrated that these three variables interact to either inhibit or activate deception, providing support for an interactionist model of ethical decision-making. Three patterns emerged from our analyses. First, low power inhibited and high power activated deception. Second, promotion-focused negotiators favored sins of omission whereas prevention-focused negotiators favored sins of commission. Third, low cognition-based trust influenced deception when negotiators experience fit ...

Natural Born Peacemakers? Gender And The Resolution Of Conflict, Mara Olekalns

Mara Olekalns

Two males sit apart, staring at each other from the corners of their eyes. A female approaches one and takes him by the arm, pulls him towards the other male. She alternates between the two and eventually brokers peace. In a different scenario, two males are again in conflict. A third male inserts himself between them, screaming at them or physically separating them to prevent the conflict from escalating. He keeps them separate and harangues them into submission (De Waal, 2009). Female as peacemaker, male as peacekeeper. These examples fit with our intuitions about how gender might shape the way ...

Employees' Responses To The Mismatch Between Organizations' Espoused Values And Basic Assumptions About Organizational Culture, Terrence Jermyn Porter

Education Doctoral Dissertations in Organization Development

During the initial phase of the recruitment process, job applicants base their attraction and job choice decisions on the organization‟s espoused values that manifest themselves through the organization‟s use of positive images and signals. Based on this limited amount of data, applicants develop a perceived notion of how well they would fit within that organization. When applicants become employees of that organization and discover a mismatch between their perception of the espoused values and the reality of the basic assumptions of that culture, the results may be detrimental to the employee as well as to the organization. The ...

"We Are Of This Place, Not Just From It" The Culture That Sustains A Rural Charter School In Northern Minnesota, Julie W. Goldsmith

Education Doctoral Dissertations in Organization Development

The focus of this research was in the area of organization development and culture within the context of a rural, Minnesota, charter school. The methodology best suited for this work was ethnography; through observation and interviews, the levels of culture were defined including the outermost layer of tangible artifacts, the deeper layer of espoused beliefs and values, and the deepest, most tacit layer of basic underlying assumptions. The analysis of these layers utilized Schein’s culture model and another lens of Adizes corporate lifecycles model. Such a study is important in order to expand the limited body of ethnographic research ...

Workplace Stress, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (Mbsr) And Gas Discharge Visualization (Gdv): Innovative Practical Measurements In Organization Development (Od) And Employee Wellness, Debra A. Lindh

Education Doctoral Dissertations in Organization Development

Employee stress is a current costly business challenge affecting profits, productivity, attrition, engagement, and overall wellbeing of employees. Furthermore, the effects of stress at work are a pressing concern among business leaders and scholar practitioners. Mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) meditation is an intervention that has been proven to reduce stress. However, assessments used to measure employee stress and intervention effectiveness remain unchanged and are not representative of the modern workforce population.

This study used a mixed methods convergent design to test an innovative stress measurement, gas discharge visualization (GVD), in conjunction with free writing related to qualitative self-reported perceived ...

Corporate Social Responsibility, Daniel H. Brown

Senior Honors Papers

This paper will address Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its far-reaching implications. Initially, the term CSR will be introduced and defined to provide the backbone for the following discussions. The paper will address the theoretical constructs of CSR, managerial strategies for implementing CSR and the application of stakeholder theory. The thesis is built upon Dr. Archie Carroll’s four-part CSR construct. In addition, international standards of CSR, with a focus on Nike, Inc.’s actions, will be evaluated.

The Heart Of Social Networks: The Ripple Effect Of Emotional Abilities In Relational Well-Being, Virginie Lopez-Kidwell

Theses and Dissertations--Management

To better understand the effect of emotions on formal and informal interactions in the workplace, I focus on emotional dynamics, the exchange and experience of emotions occurring within repeated interpersonal interactions. Emotional Ability (EA; how individuals perceive, use, understand, and manage their own or others’ emotions) is a key component in emotional dynamics. Specifically, I focus on the role of EA on individuals’ choices of coworkers for gaining emotional support (the receipt of empathy, caring, trust, and concern), and in turn, their occupational well-being and task performance. In addition, I investigate the “ripple effects” of EA, how the EA of ...

Understanding Transient-Member Nonprofit Organizations, Ozer Asdemir, Rich S. Sathe

Accounting Faculty Publications

This paper reports on an examination of membership nonprofits whose members are committed for a relatively short period—“transient-member nonprofits.” These organizations are pressured to attend to the current membership and long-term projects are difficult to plan, execute, and finance. While a number of organizational types are transient-member nonprofits, youth sports organizations, are an archetype.

This paper’s exploratory study sought to determine how such organizations’ transient characteristics appeared in their financial reports. It considered whether transient-member nonprofits report different profits, net assets, and liabilities when compared to more dedicated nonprofits. Transient-member nonprofits report lower net assets than do other ...

Making Sense Of Irish Health Care Management: The Street Level Public Organisation (Slpo)., Vivienne Byers

Conference papers

Public service reform in modern economies has placed an emphasis on effective planning and management of service delivery to the citizen-client. This paper draws on the concept of the Street Level Public Organization (SLPO) to examine the problem of government’s top down implementation of planning reform in the delivery of public services. It does so, by exploring the implementation of strategic planning in the health sector and drawing upon field work from such implementation in the health services in Ireland and Canada. The SLPO model (McKevitt 1998) is used as an explanatory tool to add to the public sector ...

Harnessing Charisma For Leadership Training, Meagan Roper

Masters Theses

Effective leadership develops followers toward objectives that focus a group's energy to engage in its task and accomplish its goals. The following study sought to understand charismatic leadership and its role in creating transformational change. Through a mixed methods case study using surveys and interviews, this researcher sought to explain the essence of charismatic leadership. Within the organization this study investigated, this meant first establishing organizational vision for a family atmosphere and guiding members on the path to achieving that vision, generating motivation and dedication to the task goals. The researcher discovered practical communicative strategies for incorporating charismatic leadership ...

Female Authority In A Globalizing Market, Megan R. Mccann

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

A Closer Look At The Assistant (To The) Regional Manager: Personality Differences Between First And Second In Command Leaders In Organizations, Ross Benes

The McNair Scholars Research Journal

Although a great deal of research has established personality differences between leaders and their followers (Lord, de Vader, & Alliger, 1986) there has been little research on how leaders at different levels of organizations may differ from one another. In particular, no research to date has examined whether or not there are personality differences between those who are first in command of their organizations and those second in command. The present study attempts to explore whether or not these differences exist in terms of both lay perceptions and in reality. The researchers in this study asked 401 individuals to contrast the ...

Does “Good” Corporate Governance Help In A Crisis? The Impact Of Country- And Firm-Level Governance Mechanisms In The European Financial Crisis, Marc Van Essen, Peter-Jan Engelen, Michael Carney

Marc van Essen

Hierarchical linear modeling shows that 25 percent of the heterogeneity in firm performance is among countries, indicating the importance of including country-level institutions in our analyses. In the context of the crisis we find that the general quality of the legal system and creditor rights protection are positively related to firm performance but protection for equity investors is not. Contrary to good governance prescriptions, we find that board characteristics associated with vigilant monitoring perform worse in a financial crisis. In a crisis, CEO duality is associated with better performance and the number of board subcommittees has a negative impact. Board ...

Teaching A Man To Fish: Ngdos, Development Interventionism, And The Theory And Practice Of The Capacity Building Approach., Sa’Eed Husaini

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The international development world has witnessed a marked increase in the presence and participation of transnational non-governmental development organizations (NGDOs) over the last two decades. This has in turn inspired much deliberation concerning what the appropriate roles and approaches for NGDOs in the development and poverty alleviation effort are. A large part of this discussion has been characterized by sustained criticism regarding NGDOs failure to engage with political processes in the developing world and the inability of most popular approaches to inspire empowerment for the marginalized and rely on their own agency towards achieving the improvement of their societies. Considering ...

Authentic, Transformational Leadership: A Phenomenological Study Of The Experiences Of Black/White Biracial Leaders, Carmen R. Zafft

Theses, Dissertations, & Student Scholarship: Agricultural Leadership, Education & Communication Department

This phenomenological study described the racial identity and leadership experiences of eight community, education, and business Black/White biracial leaders. Four central themes emerged relating to the participants’ racial identity choices: (a) family discourse, (b) social networks, (c) appearance, and (d) identity work. Three central themes emerged relating to the participants’ leadership experiences: (a) cultural agility: “Blessed to be flexible”, (b) perceived representation: “I look like them”, and (c) transformational leadership: “I lead so others can grow.” Because the participants were conscious of their identity development experience, all demonstrated a strong sense of self which influenced how they experienced leadership ...

Know Fear: How Leaders Respond And Relate To Their Fears, Tonya Jackman Hampton

Education Doctoral Dissertations in Organization Development

Using the grounded theory methodology, this study explored the topic of leaders’ fears by asking participants questions about their experiences with their fears. Twenty-four director level and above leaders working in industries such as retail, medical device, consulting firms, industrial, real estate, and academia, participated in this study to contribute to the unveiling of their fears, fear responses, and the relationship leaders have with their fears. The research revealed a set of universal fears shared by the participating leaders and demonstrates that leaders have fears, just like other humans possess. Twenty fears covering four different categories were found and included ...

How The Discipline Of Energetics Fosters Double-Loop Learning: Lessons From Multiple Positivistic Case Studies, Kelly La Venture

Education Doctoral Dissertations in Organization Development

Creation of learning organizations is a topic of increased interest to Organizational Development practitioners. Previous research has established that creating and sustaining a learning organization may be achieved by fostering a double-loop learning process among its employees. A double-loop learning process, in turn, requires employees to become both self-reflective and capable of critically examining assumptions underlying their behavior. Among other techniques, the discipline of Energetics is understood to help in participants’ double-loop learning. However, this understanding thus far lacks an empirical examination. The present study is conducted to fill this gap. Conducted as a positivistic case study, this study explored ...

Post Merger Integration Leader And Acquisition Success: A Theoretical Model Of Perceived Linkages To Success Of Mergers And Acquisitions, Asha Prasangi De Alwis

Education Doctoral Dissertations in Organization Development

It had become very clear that the post-merger integration process play an important role in realizing acquisition synergies identified at the outset of a merger thereby increasing the likelihood of merger success. While the general breadth of the topic post-merger integration is quite large, this study is focused more narrowly on the post-merger integration leadership. The extant literature of post-merger leadership identified a menu of leader competencies which were deemed important and were perceived to have a favorable influence on merger success. Leveraging on previous research, this study posited and tested a theory which examined whether or not a select ...

Student Affairs: An Apologia, Aaron W. Hughey

Counseling & Student Affairs Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.