Business Commons^™

The Challenges Of Integrating New Technology Into An Organization, Rob Delaney, Robert D'Agostino

Mathematics and Computer Science Capstones

To remain competitive in a global economy, businesses need to adapt to an ever changing environment to meet their customer’s needs. Staying competitive means continuing to evolve as an organization and making changes to both process and technology to gain a competitive edge over their competition. Organizations must become adept in bringing in new technology and managing the challenges that go along with implementing the change. Changes of this nature can provide significant benefits to an organization but can also present many challenges that need to be managed to yield a positive outcome. Problems arise when organizations attempt to bring …

How Can Business Analytics Induce Creativity: The Performance Effects Of User Interaction With Business Analytics, Tarek Soukieh

ETD Archive

Most organizations today use business analytics systems mainly for efficiency; reducing cost by contacting the right customer, generating revenue by reducing churn, etc. Nevertheless, business analytics holds promise in generating insights and in making users more creative in their decision making process.

Analytics technology is becoming sophisticated with very advanced technical capabilities. However, behavioral aspects (i.e. user interaction) of using business analytics software have not reached the same level of sophistication. Very little research in this field discusses how to implement analytical systems and what outcomes will it produce.

We are looking at conditions that can enhance user interaction with …

Assessing Student Leadership Competencies And Adequacy Of Preparation In Seminary Training, Valerie Miles-Tribble

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As more seminary student-practitioners seek non-pastoral leadership roles in faith-based

and secular organizations, the complexities of the roles demand leadership competencies beyond traditional religious study. Limited research assessing leadership competencies in seminary contexts raises uncertainty about whether leadership preparation needs are addressed adequately in seminary. This quantitative study focused on whether or not student self-assessed adequacy of preparation is related to, affected by, or influenced by self-assessed leadership competencies, individually or in the aggregate. The theoretical foundation joined Evers, Rush, and Berdrow's learner-centered theory that urges student input on competency development needs and Boyatzis's leadership competency theory that frames a …

Small Seasonal Business Strategies To Increase Profits Through Community Collaboration, Kevin B. Gibbons

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Seasonal small business owners (e.g., boating and golf industries), primarily within the upper and Midwestern United States, face challenges for profit and growth because of a brief business potential year and limited time to establish a reliable and committed customer base. The purpose of this case study was to explore strategies that seasonal small business owners in Oakland County, Michigan may use to collaborate with local associations and charitable organizations to increase profits. Stakeholder theory served as the conceptual framework for this study. A purposive sample of 4 successful small seasonal business owners in Oakland County, Michigan participated in face-to-face …

Brazilian Women Entrepreneurs: Exploring Strategies For Building Sustainable Business Organizations, Maria Ana Church

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Brazilians create an average of 1.2 million new registered enterprises annually, but some struggle to keep their business in operation. Thirty percent of the new ventures are unable to survive the first year, and 58% go out of business after the first 5 years. The goal of this phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions of Brazilian women entrepreneurs concerning the strategies needed to build sustainable business organizations in Brazil. The individual concepts of sustainable development, sustainability, business strategies, and business models served as the theoretical foundations for the study. Data were collected via in-depth interviews with 20 women entrepreneurs …

Transformational Leadership Principles Within Small Businesses, Tiffany Suzanne Mckinnon-Russell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small businesses in the United States experience a high rate of failure. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify and explore consistent strategies small business owners in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania used to lead successful companies. Transformational leadership theory formed the conceptual framework for this study. A mixed purposive sample of 20 small business owners participated in semistructured face- to-face and telephone interviews. Each of the participants possessed a minimum of 3 years of successful business operation and employed fewer than 500 individuals. Using Moustakas' modified van Kaam analyses, 6 main themes emerged: characteristics and experiences, leadership behaviors, managing operations, …

A Delphi Study Of The Potential Influence Of Women In Stem Careers, Sharyn Elizabeth Mlinar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

American businesses are working with educational institutions to attract women into technical and scientific professions. However, less than one quarter of the people working in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are women. The educational system as-a-pipeline model is not supplying business with skilled workers, specifically female STEM employees. Organizational change must occur and this process begins with the organization's leadership. Guided by the the conceptual frameworks of Kotter & Rathgeber and Kouzes & Posner, this Delphi study asked 54 female professionals, in various locations across the United States, about what influenced them in their education and career choices. Responses …

Success Factors For Women Of Color Information Technology Leaders In Corporate America, Annette Skervin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The 2013 United States Census data documents the significant underrepresentation of women of color in the information technology (IT) field. Women of color (Black, Hispanic, Asian or self-classified as non-White) represent an untapped resource in an industry with a low unemployment rate, high starting salaries, and a projected 18% growth rate by the year 2022. Prior researchers have studied White women in IT and have not provided a voice to women of color leaders. The specific problem addressed was the under-representation of women of color IT leaders in corporate America. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate the …

Interagency Coordination Of Security Operations In A Large U.S. Seaport, Edmund Levy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Protecting U.S. transportation hubs against a wide variety of security threats, while avoiding undue interference with the normal operations of the hubs, is one of the greatest challenges facing security agencies. The problem addressed in this study was the limited information on the contributing factors to seaport security. The purpose of this case study was to explore issues that can inhibit efficiency of security agency operation and collaboration and to identify actions that have enhanced collaboration. Based on theories of organizational development, leadership, and security tradecraft, this study examined the activities related to maintenance of security at a large California …

Gestión Tecnológica Como Estrategia Empresarial, Laura Stphanie Jiménez López, Melany Fonseca Pedroza

Administración de Empresas

El presente artículo tiene como objetivo proporcionar una reflexión sobre la gestión tecnológica, su implementación y el manejo adecuado de la información en las estructuras organizacionales, lo cual genera una estrategia empresarial determinante con el fin de obtener ventajas competitivas. El creciente interés de la gerencia por desarrollar estrategias tecnológicas para la obtención de la información en tiempo real, ha hecho que el mundo empresarial ponga mayor atención a los diversos procesos de I+D; en palabras dichas por (Matthews, 1990) “Las decisiones sobre tecnología son más decisivas que nunca para el éxito y la supervivencia, una industria puede quedar obsoleta …

La Importancia De Implementar El Área De Recursos Humanos En Las Pymes, Luz Amparo Rocha, Eva Paola Rodríguez Martínez

Administración de Empresas

Se estudia la importancia y el papel decisivo que cumple la presencia del “área de recursos humanos” en las Pymes. A pesar de lo que revelan las prácticas deficientes de un porcentaje significativo de Pymes en Colombia (30%), este artículo muestra primero las razones que justifican la existencia de esta área. Luego estudia las dificultades que surgen de la ausencia de esta área en una empresa. Finalmente estudia sus funciones específicas, mostrando cómo éstas se entretejen con -y afectan a- todos los niveles de la dinámica empresarial. El artículo busca poner en evidencia tanto las ventajas, en caso de existencia, …

Physician Participation In Crowdsourcing: Effect Of Intrinsic And Extrinsic Motivation, Rod Gene Brace

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Physicians must participate in developing medical protocols to ensure that medical best practices are adopted for patients' social benefit. Healthcare leaders have struggled to gain sufficient physician participation in developing medical protocols. Using technology-based crowdsourcing to assimilate knowledge from physicians may help healthcare managers improve medical protocol development. Using self-determination theory, this quantitative causal-comparative design aimed to determine whether differences in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation existed among the 132 participating physicians who did or did not participate in developing medical protocols in a crowdsourcing environment. Participants were recruited by e-mail through an independent physician association. Motivation levels were measured by …

When Does Six Sigma Reduce Defects And Increase Efficiencies?, Richard Jay Sands

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A field research-based statistical study was used to investigate successes and failures of Six Sigma methodologies based projects. Six Sigma methodologies require that projects be designed, planned, and implemented using techniques specifically designed to achieve desired benefits that are based on the method's key drivers for project success. This study addressed an identified gap in the literature that Six Sigma projects do not fail because of Six Sigma methodologies, but that the projects can fail because of deficient support processes. Six Sigma projects that do not achieve the desired benefits are often labeled as "fads". Research questions related to management …