Digital Commons Network^™

Collaboration In Corporate Social Responsibility Programs In Nigeria’S Oil Industry, Amuzie Ernest Akpaka

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The inability of some corporate social responsibility (CSR) managers to satisfy stakeholders’ expectations to deliver on corporate social responsibility outcomes has led to protests, unrest, threats, and shutdowns of operations of companies in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. CSR program managers who do not establish strategies to improve stakeholder engagement may experience business failure. Grounded in stakeholder theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies CSR managers use to improve CSR outcomes. Participants for the study were 8 CSR managers who formulate policy, initiate and implement CSR programs in companies operating in Nigeria’s oil and …

Elementary Principals' Behaviors And Collaborative Professional Learning Communities, Lisa Gaines High

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Principals need to possess leadership skills and behaviors that help set expectations for collaborative work. The problem in this case study was that little was known about the collaboration-building behaviors principals use that promote effective collaboration between members of the school community. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and describe the behaviors principals exhibit when building collaboration through the implementation of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). The conceptual framework was based on 3 elements: leadership styles and approaches, collaboration, and the implementation of effective PLCs. The primary research question explored how principal behaviors contribute to collaborative professional learning …

Veteran Administration Disease Model To An Interdisciplinary Healthcare Model, Bertha J. Harris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a growing need for healthcare teams within the Veterans Administration (VA) healthcare system to effectively collaborate and communicate to improve patient outcomes. The need to improve patient care in the Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) has been well established. The scholarly literature does not provide evidence whether using the primary care PACT model on communication and teamwork by an interdisciplinary medical team ameliorates these communication breakdowns. Bronstein's design for interdisciplinary collaboration provided the overarching framework for this study. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the use of the PACT model on communication and teamwork …

Improving Interdepartmental Care Collaboration For Pregnant Patients, Michelle Anne Ott

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Communication is vital to improve patient care outcomes, especially with high acuity patients. Pregnant patients differ from other patient populations because their care involves 2 entities: the patient (mother-to-be) and her unborn fetus. There has been a noted gap in communication and care collaboration between the emergency department (ED) and obstetric (OB) teams at the project site, resulting in delays for patients and lack of appropriate maternal/fetal assessment and contributing negatively to patients' experiences. Using transitions theory and the Rosswurm and Larrabee model, a clinical practice guideline (CPG) inclusive of an obstetrically focused algorithm was developed and presented for use …

The Collaboration Experiences Of Elementary School Intervention Specialists In Inclusive Classroom Settings, Donisha Noel Bailey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Collaboration is one of the most significant components of inclusive education, according to professional literature. The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of intervention specialists in terms of collaboration with general education teachers in elementary school inclusive classrooms and administrative support of collaboration. The collaboration and the community of practice theories were used for the conceptual framework in this study to understand how collaboration is an ongoing interaction between people to achieve a common goal. Research questions were designed to understand the perceptions of intervention specialists who work in inclusive classrooms regarding collaboration and administrative support by …

Coteachers' Perceptions About Collaborating To Implement Instructional Strategies For Students With Disabilities, Claudia B. Morris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

During 2012-2016, students with disabilities (SWDs) in Grades 3-5 in an urban elementary school in New York City did not meet the New York State English Language Arts (ELA) standards. The scores had been consistently low for SWDs when compared to their nondisabled peers. SWDs are placed in the inclusion classrooms with an Individual Education Plan that consists of the necessary accommodations that each student requires to access the general education curriculum. The purpose of this case study was to determine if the low ELA test scores for SWDs relate to lack of collaborative practices between coteachers in the inclusion …

Public Education/Public Health Perspectives On Collaboration-Influence On High School Completion, Claudette Virginia Campbell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The research problem focused on the use of collaboration by managers, supervisors, consultants, and professional staff in a department of public education and health to address disparities in on-time high school completion rates. The purpose of the study was to examine the perspectives of individuals in these public sectors on the use of collaboration as a means to improve on-time high school completion rates for African American and Hispanic students. The theoretical foundation and conceptual framework for the study were John Rawls's theory of justice and Amartya Sen's capability approach. The key research question involved how individuals in the public …

Teachers' Perceptions Of School District Professional Development Alignment With National Standards, Arlene Jean Wacha

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite ongoing delivery of teacher professional development (PD), educational leaders in the local district did not have an objective evaluation whether their implementation of the Marzano causal teacher evaluation model and the iObservation tool training were aligned with accepted national standards for PD effectiveness. Using Vygotsky's constructivist theory as the theoretical framework, the purpose of this quantitative descriptive, correlational study was to describe teachers' perceptions of the alignment of the district's PD with national standards and the relationship between teachers' reported self-efficacy and attitudes toward the PD program. A purposive sample of 80 middle school teachers completed the Learning Forward's …

A Study Of Rural Nonprofit Board Communication And Collaboration, Angela-Janine C. Crawford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This case study explored the perceptions, experiences, and significant internal communication and collaboration problem(s) faced by a rural nonprofit board of directors experiencing a growth transition. Specifically, this study addressed (a) how a rural nonprofit's board members perceived their communication and collaboration skills and practices, and (b) the training needed to improve board communication and collaboration policies and practices. Ten rural area study participants shared their experiences and made recommendations for board communication and collaboration training. Exploring the perceptions, understandings, and capacities of the rural nonprofit board members revealed how specific communication and collaboration policies and practices affected their organization's …

Counterterrorism And Human Rights Committees’ Influence On Terrorism And Human Rights Atrocities, Janice Marie Gravely

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The United Nations Counterterrorism and Human Rights Committees’ current collaborative practices have failed to reduce global terrorists’ activities and human rights abuses associated with counterterrorism activities. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore and compare collaborative processes between the committees in combatting terrorism and human rights violations associated with counterterrorism. The researched was centered around two key questions: The similarities and differences with information sharing processes and the impacts of the committees’ collaborative processes on terrorists’ activities and human rights violations. For this study, the pragmatic paradigm theoretical framework was used, focusing on the descriptive exploratory design. …

Parental Involvement In Individual Education Plan Development For Students With Significant Intellectual Disabilities, Tanya A. Dodge

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research indicates a connection between successful outcomes for students with significant intellectual disabilities and the individual education program (IEP) team's efforts in the IEP development process. However, little research has been conducted on the perceptions of parents and teachers of students with significant disabilities about parent participation in the IEP development process. Therefore, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore parent and teacher perceptions of parent participation in the IEP development process. The conceptual framework of this study was ecological design theory, based on Bronfenbrenner's theory of human development and Neal and Neal's theory of networked systems. Participants …

College Instructors' Perceptions On Coteaching, Theresa Da Costa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Coteaching is a teaching strategy that requires 2-teachers to collaborate in developing a course syllabus, selecting materials, and assessing students' work. The research problem, addressed in this study, was an appeal to educate the diverse adult population whose needs could not be addressed through traditional instructions at Rex College. Because of a high number of enrolled adult students, coteaching at Rex College was used to improve student success for academically underprepared students in a Set for Success program. The purpose of this study was to examine the coteaching strategies used at Rex College so that teaching guides and/or professional training …

Industrial Voluntary Consensus Standards – A Process Under Threat, Joel Blumenthal

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The world relies heavily on industrial voluntary consensus standards to serve public interests through the development of uniform and harmonized social and economic procedures. The research problem focused on generating suggestions for improving collaborative practices between U.S.-based accredited and unaccredited standards development organizations that create voluntary consensus standards. The research centered on assessing the level of consensus among experts regarding what actions may be conducive to improving collaborative practices through the lenses of stakeholder and institutional theory. This modified 3-round qualitative Delphi study began with open-ended questions in Round 1 and progressed towards consensus in Rounds 2 and 3 using …

Dynamics Of Special Education Teacher Collaboration On Bullying, Velma P. Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Bullying has plagued U.S. public schools: special education students become victims on a consistent basis and their academic outcomes may be adversely affected. Few studies have focused on the collaboration of teachers to reduce bullying. The purpose of the qualitative study of 12 special education teachers and counselors was to understand the process they use when they collaborate on reducing the bullying problem in a small Midwestern school in the United States. Montiel-Overall's theory of collaboration and Shulman's model of pedagogical content knowledge reflected the focus of the 2 research questions that informed this study. Participants described their collaboration and …

High School Teachers' Motivation And Strategies For Effectively Implementing Cooperative Learning, Kathleen Assini

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite being expected by administrators to use cooperative learning regularly and effectively in their instructional practices, less than one third of high school teachers in the targeted U.S. public school district implemented the practices above a proficient level, according to district data. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the motivation, strategies, and practices of a representative group of teachers at the high school who were rated highly effective on their 2016-2017 annual summative evaluation in cooperative learning. The research questions concerned the motivation of these teachers to include cooperative learning practices in their classrooms. Two additional …

Elementary Teachers' Perspectives Of The Support Facilitation Instructional Model, Deborah Afolabi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem in an elementary school in Southern Texas was poor reading performance on grade level and progress monitoring tests for students with disabilities (SWDs). SWDs may learn to read proficiently when reading instruction is provided using the support facilitation model (SFM) that features a special educator who helps SWDs in literacy or mathematics in inclusion settings. The purpose of this bounded qualitative case study was to explore the perspectives of special and general education teachers about SFM. The universal design for learning framework, used to plan lessons based on how students learn, guided this study. The research questions focused …

Increasing Collaboration, Shared Values, And Authentic Teaching Practices Through Technological Professional Development, Jennifer Louise Blackford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this outcome-based program evaluation project study was to investigate how professional development (PD) influenced the shared values of 25 district teachers regarding instructional technology and their collaboration and instructional practices using instructional technology. Inclusion criteria included (a) participants had to be 18 years or older and (b) participants had to be a certified teacher. Guided by Mishra and Koehler's TPACK theory and Guskey's model for PD evaluation, the research was designed to determine (a) how teachers demonstrate collaboration using instructional technology as a result of PD, (b) what shared values teachers have adopted regarding instructional technology as …

Nigerian Hospital-Based Interprofessional Collaborative Patterns And Organizational Implications, Osaeloka Christiandolus Ekwueme

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Interprofessional collaboration is recognized as the innovative, evidence-based strategy that strengthens health systems and improves performance and health outcomes. While resource-rich countries have benefited much from the implementation of this initiative, literature is scarce regarding sub-Sahara Africa. This quantitative cross-sectional descriptive study described the extent of interprofessional collaborative practice at the tertiary care level in Nigeria and its implications on patient health outcomes, professionals' performance, satisfaction, and healthy practice environment. The relational coordination theory (RCT) provided the conceptual framework for the study. Key research questions were on the association between the extents of interprofessional practice and each of the outcome …

Facilitating Collaboration Among School And Community Providers In Children's Mental Health, Holly J. Curran

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Interprofessional collaboration among school-based and community-based mental health providers in children's mental has been studied in relation to specific providers and as part of program evaluation; however, limited information exists as to how to overcome barriers to collaborative relationships. This study describes the experiences of school and community mental health service providers and those who supervise them. Using phenomenological methodology, three focus-group interview transcripts were analyzed by identifying recurrent themes relevant to the experience of collaboration from school and community providers' perspectives. Although participants viewed aspects of collaboration positively, barriers frequently interfered with collaborative relationships. Support for collaboration from state, …

Perceptions Regarding The Use Of Common Planning Time At Three High-Achieving Elementary Schools, Christopher Ray Tickell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The literature shows that collaboration is a critical part of a professional learning community and leads to higher student achievement. However, there is limited research on what collaboration actually looks like in a school setting. The purpose of this study was to examine the beliefs and strategies of elementary teachers and elementary administrators of three high achieving elementary schools utilizing a weekly common planning period for collaboration. Research questions for the study inquired strategies utilized by classroom teachers and principals to capture specific actions and beliefs regarding collaboration to increase student achievement. A phenomenological qualitative method was utilized through interviewing …

Early Recognition And Treatment Of Acquired Pneumonia, Michael Lamorgese

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction disease process that costs the healthcare system millions of dollars each year. By using existing assets, the number of patients admitted to the hospital suffering from sepsis secondary to community-acquired pneumonia can be reduced. The purpose of this project was to improve and expand the scope of practice of the registered nurse working in a private medical office to initiate treatment for suspected CAP using evidence-based practice. Data from the last quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018 were compared. The purpose of comparing these data sets was to examine outcomes of …

Political Affiliations And Interagency Collaboration In Emergency Management In Nigeria, Charles Otegbade

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Collaboration has been indispensable in resolving many contemporary problems involved in emergency/disaster management, but it is unclear if key determinants of collaboration established through studies focused on the Western world would apply to countries outside the West. The purpose of this cross-sectional non-experimental study was to examine the effects of political affiliation, an established determinant, on collaboration among emergency management agencies (EMAs) in Nigeria. Barnes's theory of social network and Lévi-Strauss's theory of social exchanges framed the study. Survey data were collected from a sample of 38 EMAs out of the population of 812 EMAs; they were affiliated with 6 …

The Co-Teaching Model: Relational Dynamics And Lived Experiences Of Teachers Within The English Language Classroom, Christina Simmons

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As the population of English language learners (ELLs) in the United States grows, educators, administrators, and policymakers must support effective methods of instruction. Co-teaching, an inclusive special education instructional approach, has recently grown in popularity as a method for providing English as a second language (ESL) support. The research on ESL co-teaching lacks in-depth data about the experiences and relationships of co-teaching teams. The purpose of this heuristic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences and relational dynamics of co-teachers within an English language instructional setting. Friend and Cook's model of collaboration and Siemen's theory of connectivism provided a …

Applying Utaut To Determine Intent To Use Cloud Computing In K-12 Classrooms, Dorothy Cortez Kropf

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although school districts provide collaborative cloud computing tools such as OneDrive and Google Drive for students and teachers, the use of these tools for grading and feedback purposes remains largely unexplored. Therefore, it is difficult for school districts to make informed decisions on the use of cloud applications for collaboration. This quantitative, nonexperimental study utilized Venkatesh et al.'s unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to determine teachers' intent to use collaborative cloud computing tools. Online surveys with questions pertaining to UTAUT's predictor variables of performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI), facilitating conditions (FC) and …

Collaboration Strategies To Reduce Technical Debt, Jeffrey Allen Miko

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Inadequate software development collaboration processes can allow technical debt to accumulate increasing future maintenance costs and the chance of system failures. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore collaboration strategies software development leaders use to reduce the amount of technical debt created by software developers. The study population was software development leaders experienced with collaboration and technical debt at a large health care provider in the state of California. The data collection process included interviews with 8 software development leaders and reviewing 19 organizational documents relating to software development methods. The extended technology acceptance model was used …

Collaborative Governance And Anticorruption In Postwar Monrovia, Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Public sector corruption is a major problem in Monrovia. Successive national

governments have instituted anticorruption measures in the 1970s and 2000s, and anticorruption agencies were established to eradicate corruption. However, there appears to be a significant lack of resources and political willpower to prosecute corrupt government officials. A failure to curb political corruption indicates that current policies are not working. Government works when there is a perception that it delivers results and that the needs and safety of the citizenry are protected. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenology study was to gain a deeper understanding of public sector corruption at …

How Does Organizational Culture Impact Rn Engagement, Veronica Anntionette Ruffin-Ellis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Lack of RN engagement in the acute care setting can result in poor staffing, nursing shortages, increased stress levels for nurses and decreased morale. When nurses are not engaged in their work setting, quality of care suffers. A wide range of literature focuses on the importance of RN engagement; however, few health care organizations have taken the initiative to implement programs that foster RN engagement, demonstrating a gap in practice. This study examined the relationship between the levels of RN engagement and their perceptions of their organizational culture. Kolcaba's humanistic approach to meeting the needs of RN staff was used …

Collaborative Strategies Used To Reduce Billing Administrative Cost, Stella Fayomi-Olaleye

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Billing inefficiencies represent 80% of wasteful healthcare administrative costs that are projected to reach $45 billion by 2018. Potentially, a reduced billing administrative cost is estimated to yield an annual savings of $60 billion that could fund other societal needs such as jobs, wage increases, and education. Through the conceptual framework of iceberg change management model, this single case study explored collaborative strategies 3 healthcare billing managers in Dallas, Texas successfully used to reduce billing administrative costs. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and the review of company documents. Using Yin's procedure of examining, comparing, categorizing, and coding data, the …

Interprofessional Collaborative Care Educational Program For Nurses, Lynn Ann Mcewen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Interprofessional collaboration and collaborative patient and family-centered practice is increasingly advocated as a means of improving patient outcomes and the cost effectiveness of health care. The Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative and Registered Nurses Association of Ontario identified best practices and competencies required for interprofessional collaboration and collaborative practice. Despite the widespread dissemination of these competencies and best practice guidelines to health professional schools, there remains a gap in nursing practice regarding nursing knowledge about the core competencies required for interprofessional collaboration. The purpose of this project was the planning of an education program for nurses on interprofessional collaboration and collaborative …

Teacher-Based Teams Talk Of Change In Instructional Practices, David Dewitt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mandates have been issued for educators to collaborate and improve student achievement, requiring a change in instructional practices through teacher talk. Teachers have struggled to make the transitional conversion from team planning to observed changes in instructional practices with evidence of improvement. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how teachers collaborated while following the Ohio Improvement Process. The purpose was then to make data-driven changes regarding instructional practices in the continuous improvement cycle. The conceptual framework was constructed from the teachers' dialogic stances towards talk of instruction, along with the intellectual and emotional attitudes teachers have about …