Digital Commons Network^™

An Information Theoretic Investigation Of Complex Adaptive Supply Networks With Organizational Topologies, Joshua V. Rodewald

Theses and Dissertations

Supply networks exist throughout society in manufacturing and knowledge-intensive industries as well as many service industries. Organizations have been noted to behave as complex adaptive systems or information supply networks with both formal and informal structures. Thoroughly understanding supply network structure and behavior are critical to managing such organizations effectively, but their properties of complex adaptive systems make them more difficult to analyze and assess, forcing researchers to rely on unrealistic data or assumptions of behavior. This research proposes an information theoretic methodology to discover such complex network structures and dynamics while overcoming the difficulties historically associated with their study. …

A Phenomenological Inquiry Into The Perceptions Of E-Leaders On Virtual Team Leadership, Deann Chriestenson

All Theses And Dissertations

Corporations are facing a more complex and challenging global business environment, and many have implemented a virtual workforce to maintain their competitive advantage through maximizing productivity, reducing product time to market, and cost reduction. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of virtual leadership, as seen through the eyes of study participants (Merriam, 2009). Participants included fifteen Fortune 500 virtual team leaders who had prior experience leading traditional co-located teams. Data collected through telephone interviews were transcribed verbatim and NVivo 11 assisted in the coding, analyses, and presentation. The data analysis …

How Should We Motivate Effort, Shamima Khan

Theses and Dissertations

This research uses an experimental design to study if the pattern and positioning of rewards influence the amount of effort participants put in. The three key hypotheses tested here are: 1) are people more likely to complete a task if the incentives are given in more regular intervals, 2) do uncertainty of reward timing hurt or help in maintaining motivation, 3) is intrinsic motivation more influential than the patterns in which incentives are structured? The treatments in this experiment are created by varying the reward structure of candies and pens in exchange of a simple math test completion. Among the …

The Impact Of Authentic Leadership Behavior On Employee Engagement And Organizational Ethical Culture In Nigeria, Adayehi B. Peter

Human Resource Development Theses and Dissertations

Authenticity in leadership is an old phenomenon that has recently sparked a new research interest in management and the human resource development (HRD) literature (Peus, Wesche, Streicher, Braun, & Frey, 2012). An upswing in highly publicized corporate scandals, management malfeasance, and broader societal challenges facing public and private organizations has contributed to the recent attention placed on authenticity and authentic leadership (Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wernsing, & Peterson, 2008). Authentic leadership behavior allows leaders and organizations meet the raised expectations of fairness, morality, and social responsibility held by employees and organizational stakeholders (Kiersch, 2012).

The primary purpose of this study was …

Gender Inequity Within Public Accounting, Paige Petersen

Honors Thesis

Traditionally a male-dominated field, the public accounting industry has seen recent progress in the presence and advancement of women in the profession. Today, women comprise half of accounting students, Certified Public Accountant test-takers, and employees at public accounting firms. However, women in public accounting face an invisible barrier when it comes to reaching the level of partner, where they represent only nineteen percent of partners. Uneven distribution of female representation should be of concern to public accounting firms seeking to maximize the potential of their talent pool and gain the benefits of diverse leadership. Traditional viewpoints on this issue promote …

A Cost Of Doing Business: Defense Contracting Fraud, Shane M. English

Capstones

The federal government relies heavily on outside contractors to provide essential research and services. Following World War II, the Department of Defense and the military began to rely on approved government contractors to develop, test and improve weapons and tools used to keep soldiers and the nation safe.

Defense contracting is a massive business that commands billions of dollars a year. Despite the magnitude of the United States' contracting system, detecting fraud and preventing bad actors from continuing to profit off of the government has proven difficult. The systems at hand: civil and criminal charges, suspension and debarment have consistently …

Not On The Menu, Kathryn Casteel, Zameena Mejia

Capstones

The element of “unwelcomeness” and the burden of proof on the plaintiff to prove sexual conduct in the workplace is one of the flaws of Title VII that make it difficult to protect victims of sexual harassment. This is particularly true in restaurants where a sexual environment is often thought of as “part of the job.” Formal complaint systems, if available, in restaurants are often flawed, even though they can pose as an affirmative defense for the defendant if they are available and a victim does not file a complaint. In the cases examined, all involved an accused supervisor or …

Assessing The Impact Of Csr Policy And Practice On Education Of Orphans And Vulnerable Children In Indonesia, Sri Frazee

International Commerce & Policy Theses

Indonesia was one of the first countries to implement the mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approach. This law requires corporations to allocate part of their budget toward funding for CSR programs. When implementing CSR programs, many Indonesian corporations focus on education. This research assesses how this policy has affected education, particularly for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) who are cared for at childcare institutions. These childcare institutions include orphanages (panti) and halfway houses (rumah singgah) that provides a temporary shelter for street children. This research examines the role of the Government of Indonesia (GOI) and corporations in implementing this mandatory …

Long Odds: Inside The Process Of Applying For Affordable Housing Through Nyc’S Lottery System, Scott Klocksin

Capstones

This story is a look at the process of applying for affordable housing through lotteries set up by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development. The story follows Chris Kelly, a 36 year-old freelance writer and personal assistant, through the process of applying through the lotteries and eventually through the final stages of securing an affordable apartment.

Spend Your Student Loans On A Vacation. No One Is Watching., Raul A. Hernandez, Morten Buttler

Capstones

Student loan debtors who spend their loans on non-educational expenses   increase the likelihood of financial hardship once they begin repayment. Contributing to the financial struggles of student loan debtors is an overly-complicated student loan system which can entangle borrowers with unclear financial statements and a glut of federal loan repayment programs.

Link to capstone project: https://medium.com/@raul.hernandez/spend-your-student-loans-on-a-vacation-no-one-is-watching-a71834ed6f45#.vj61hhxig

The Pop Behind Pop-Ups, Lauren Klose

Capstones

Small businesses on Long Island have been suffering due to a variety of reasons including taxes and regulations on small businesses. Despite this, one entrepreneur, Howie Frank, has decided to fight back and start a small business that is only open for six months out of the year: Everything Christmas. He cashes in on the most profitable time of the retail season, and has since grown his company in the past eight years to four locations and four franchise locations. His intent is to continue this expand this business which he dedicates all of his time to, year round.

http://www.laurenklose.com/

Multi-Period Stochastic Resource Planning: Models, Algorithms And Applications, Stanislaus Simon Solomon

Dissertations

This research addresses the problem of sequential decision making in the presence of uncertainty in the professional service industry. Specifically, it considers the problem of dynamically assigning resources to tasks in a stochastic environment with both the uncertainty of resource availability due to attrition, and the uncertainty of job availability due to unknown project bid outcome. This problem is motivated by the resource planning application at the Hewlett Packard (HP) Enterprises. The challenge is to provide resource planning support over a time horizon under the influence of internal resource attrition and demand uncertainty. To ensure demand is satisfied, the external …

An Analysis Of Mongolia’S Resource-Led Development: The Impact Of Foreign Direct Investment In The Extraction Industry, Belguun Bat-Erdene

Master's Theses

It has been 26 years since Mongolia transitioned to democracy. I decided to evaluate the progress of Mongolia’s development since the transition to evaluate whether the country of only 3 million people with vast land and natural resources successfully implemented policies to attain growth and societal wellbeing. In order to evaluate Mongolia’s development progress, this thesis uses FDI in Mongolian development since 1990 as a case study to examine the relationship between FDI, state development strategies, and development outcomes. My research questions encompass a series of interrelated inquiries including 1) whether human development can be achieved through extraction industries 2) …

Improving Employee Engagement Through The Development Of An Enterprise Performance Management System, Carlton D. Abner

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

There is ample evidence of our health care delivery system relying heavily on value-based outcomes. The increased focus on outcomes has required health care organizations to adjust how they approach data and how they successfully implement performance management systems. These performance management systems help the organization identify, measure, and report the organization’s performance at an enterprise level using key performance indicators clearly linked to the organization’s overall strategy. As one organization began implementing an enterprise performance management system, the goal of this project was to show how participating in projects with that level of strategic impact can lead to improved …

Riding The Wave: How The Philanthropic Revolution Will Impact Museums In The United States And Canada, Sarah M. Mackey

Master's Projects and Capstones

This capstone project explores the history of philanthropy from 1970 to the present, and presents a strategy for museums to leverage contemporary trends in nonprofit giving. The methods proposed in this project are specifically targeted at engaging new community leaders and the family members of legacy donors. I have researched and created an updated job description and hiring plan for a Transformational Gift Officer. This person would be responsible for identifying, cultivating, and stewarding the donor portfolio outlined in this project. The individual who will be successful in this role will be able to move past institutional silos and collaboratively …

History In Collaboration: Equalizing The Arts And The Humanities In San Francisco, Nicole C. Meldahl

Master's Projects and Capstones

Historically, there has been a critical imbalance in the way history and preservation organizations are civically supported in comparison with the amount of funding that is available to arts organizations in the United States. To correct this imbalance in San Francisco, I propose the creation of a San Francisco Department of Culture that would place the San Francisco Arts Commission equally alongside a San Francisco History Commission within a department that absorbs responsibilities currently managed by other divisions with in city government, such as the Planning Department and the Office and Economic and Workforce Development. City government necessarily takes time …

Internship Preparedness: A Look Into The Internship Experience At St. John Fisher College, Mcquade T. Milligan

Sport Management Undergraduate

In the field of sport management, internships have been shown to be an important factor in the initial placement in the sport industry. Previous work has cited both design elements and the experience itself as being critical to internship success or failure. As the SJFC program requires two distinct required experiences, the purpose of this study was to explore the impact of these experiences on recent graduate’s confidence levels. Through survey data it was uncovered that participants who indicated a higher satisfaction with their final internship were more likely to end up in a career similar that of their last …

A Five-Year Integration Plan For Syrian Refugees Residing In Italian Refugee Camps, Megan Vander Boon

Honors Theses

The Syrian War is drastically affecting the European Migration Crisis and the number of misplaced people in the world. With nearly five million Syrians seeking asylum outside the country’s borders, neighboring countries are being pressured to find new ways to absorb the refugees. In the last two years, Italy has been challenged more than other countries because of entrance methods through the Mediterranean Sea. Italy has the ability to absorb the growing number of refugees if it implements integration plans. The purposed method suggests Syrian refugees, specifically children, will apply for Italian citizenship once they arrive to a refugee camp. …

Identity Crisis Of An Athlete/Student, Kyle Joseph Hoffman

Sport Management Undergraduate

No abstract provided.

Incorporating Experiential Theory Into Virtual Strategic Planning Processes, Chris Perkins

Capstone Collection

Experiential learning theories, such as David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle (2015) contribute to more than just learning environments. In this Training Course Linked Capstone I facilitated a six-week strategic planning workshop for the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group (DIAG) of AFS-USA, an intercultural youth exchange organization. Kolb’s cycle acted as framework for the workshop. The DIAG operates as a virtual team, with members across the United States, therefore I designed the workshop for implementation via the internet and telephone conversation. I consulted research on virtual team structure and participatory practices in strategic planning in order to design a program which …

Does The Sport Industry Change The Game For Job Satisfaction?: A Case Of Triple-A Ticket Office Employees, Kaylah R. Quilty

Sport Management Undergraduate

Business success continues to be influenced by employee job satisfaction because satisfied employees are more likely to produce quality work, stay motivated, and continue with the organization for a longer period of time. The research into job satisfaction has only gone as far as the business industry but has not yet reached the sport industry. Using the sport of baseball, interviews with ten Triple-A, International League ticket office employees uncovered there are many commonalities between the sport and business industries in terms of factors that influence job satisfaction. Therefore, sport organizations can likely utilize existing research in this area to …

Cohesion And Factors Of Sport, Jordan T. Schofield

Sport Management Undergraduate

This research was done to see how player demographics and other factors of sport effect team cohesion of a soccer program at a Division III level. In this study different demographics such as year in college, transfer status, and how many years you have been playing were explored to see if they impacted the amount of cohesion on the team. Additionally, other factors of sport such as gender, coaching styles, effective student leaders, the wins and goals met as a team, and how athletes interact off the field were also taken into consideration and compared to the amount of cohesion …

Synthesis Of Optimization And Simulation For Multi-Period Supply Chain Planning With Consideration Of Risks, Liang Xu

Dissertations

Solutions to deterministic optimizing models for supply chains can be very sensitive to the formulation of the objective function and the choice of planning horizon. We illustrate how multi-period optimizing models may be counterproductive if traditional accounting of revenue and costs is performed and planning occurs with too short a planning horizon. We propose a “value added” complement to traditional financial accounting that allows planning to occur with shorter horizons than previously thought necessary. This dissertation presents a simulation model with an embedded optimizer that can help organizations develop strategies that minimize expected costs or maximize expected contributions to profit …

Retirement Reboot: A Website Redesign, Christina Gillen

Honors Projects

A website could be created with the latest technology, but after a few years it will still need to be updated. This is what happened to Swanton Health Care and Retirement Center’s website. This project is designed to remedy the problem by creating an entirely new website with updated content, images, and interactive features to bring Swanton Health Care’s online presence back to life.

Can They Use It? Studying The Usability Of The Canvas Learning Management System At Bowling Green State University, James Faisant

Honors Projects

Students’ use of the Canvas learning management system (LMS) as implemented by Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a substantial part of their learning experience. A well designed and easy to use LMS not only allows students to be more efficient, it allows students to engage effectively with their coursework. Students’ ability to effectively use the LMS is examined to understand whether the system is usable, and if not, what changes should be made. Research included two distinct elements. First, students were asked to complete nine tasks identified as common tasks within Canvas, while being timed. Additionally, students responded to …

An Analysis On The Growth Of Student Loans And Its Implications On The U.S. Economy, Jensine Voon

Honors Theses

Student loan debt is an issue facing the United States of America today. More and more people are enrolling themselves into college, hoping that a college degree would increase their chances of employment and improve their standard of living. However, the rise in demand for tertiary education has an effect on the amount of student loan debt accumulated in America. A hike in college tuition fees has caused a rise in default rate among student borrowers. More borrowers are entering repayment plans because they are not able to make their monthly loan payments. This phenomenon has altered borrowers’ decision on …

Hello Kitty's Long-Standing Cross-Cultural Popularity In The United States And Japan, Melanie Matchette

Honors Theses

Hello Kitty’s success is unique in that the character is popular across the world and has been popular for decades. This paper seeks to determine how Sanrio has gained and maintained success in both the United States and Japan despite their differences in consumers. I will explore the differences and similarities in marketing strategies employed in each country. I develop themes that attempt to explain the success of marketing techniques unique to each country as well as marketing techniques that worked for both countries.

After exploring the reasons behind marketing success in each country, I determine what Sanrio could do …

A Qualitative Exploration Of The Workplace Culture Of Women In Information Technology Careers, Andrea Hemphill-Merrills

Dissertations

The information technology (IT) industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. According to the U.S, Department of Labor and Statistics (2015), employment opportunities are it is projected to grow by 12 percent from 2014 to 2024. While the number of employed women have increased, this has not been the case in the IT industry where the number of women has been in consistent decline since 1991. In order for the U.S. to be able to fill the demand for IT professionals, it must have access to a talent pool that includes women. There are many …

Understanding The Retail Investor: Technical And Fundamental Analysis, Ben Davis

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Constrained Multi-Group Project Allocation Using Mahalanobis Distance, Abdulaziz Saud Alkabaa

Doctoral Dissertations

Optimal allocation is one of the most active research areas in operation research using binary integer variables. The allocation of multi constrained projects among several options available along a given planning horizon is an especially significant problem in the general area of item classification. The main goal of this dissertation is to develop an analytical approach for selecting projects that would be most attractive from an economic point of view to be developed or allocated among several options, such as in-house engineers and private contractors (in transportation projects). A relevant limiting resource in addition to the availability of funds is …