Performance Management Commons^™

The Impact Of Gemba Walks On Preventative Maintenance Productivity, Jake Donald Taylor

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Gemba Walks are a tool to get management involvement in areas where the work is taking place. Gemba Walks allow individuals involved first-hand to voice and reduce waste within the process and general operations. This research measured the benefits and improvements Gemba Walks had on the availability of equipment. For example, reducing the number of events that equipment is down for maintenance and its duration to repair these events, therefore improved availability. Maintenance is a critical aspect of keeping a company running, and making improvements found during this research significantly impacted the company by creating lean improvements. The improvements focused …

Justice Perceptions Of Team Disciplinary Actions In The Workplace, Austin Lee Rettke

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This scenario study examined fairness perceptions of rule violations and punishment in an organizational team setting. Participants read one of 16 scenarios in which an integral team member violates an organizational rule and subsequently is punished. Participants then answered 12 items assessing perceptions of fairness for the punished employee and for the non-punished team members, and the likelihood the punishment will deter future misconduct for the punished employee and for the teammates. This study examined two levels of misconduct severity (moderate and severe), two levels of punishment severity (moderate and severe), two types of punishment distribution (consistent and conditional), and …

Implementation Of A New Enterprise Resource Planning System, Lacy Payne

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The objective of this thesis was to upgrade an Enterprise Resource planning system that was outdated into a new age Enterprise resource planning system based centered on a scheduling algorithm. This was a key change that needed to be made to transform the company from old thinking to new. Primarily the testing of this implementation was done through mapping of processes, followed by trial and error, and finally improving and sustaining the processes it took to use the system correctly. The mapping of the processes was completed by the Process Manager as well as the Lead, Supervisor, or Manager of …

Training Program Content Validation: A Practical Application Of Educative Techniques, Julia A. Howard-Johnson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A McDonald’s training program for the positions of grill and counter was evaluated in order to identify recommendations for curriculum refinement or enhancements. The methodological approaches developed by Ford and Wroten (1984) and Bownas, Bosshardt, and Donnelly (1985) were applied. Three evaluation assessment inventories were developed: The Job task Inventory, The training Emphasis Inventory, and The Training Effectiveness Inventory. These inventories were constructed with the assistance of 49 managers, trainers, and employees with six or more months of service. Four managers, seven trainers, and 22 recent training graduates responded to the appropriate inventory and these ratings were used in the …

Effects Of Three Organizational Policies On Individuals’ Attitudes About Drug Testing, Alan Walker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The consensus of recent literature appears to be that drug testing is both legal and valid. However, a testing program can meet legal and technical criteria and still fail to meet organizational objectives because one vital component has been left out – employees’ attitudes. The present study uses data from 148 college juniors and seniors to assess the effects of three hypothetical drug testing policies: (a) consequences of detected drug use (termination vs. rehabilitation), (b) timing of the program (expected interval vs. random interval vs. reasonable cause), and (c) business purpose (weak vs. strong) on attitudes toward drug testing. It …

The Sex Stereotype Of A Job As A Moderator Of Sex Bias In Performance Evaluations, Sandra B. Crooks

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In accordance with the stereotype-fit model of discrimination (Dipboye, 1985), the results of past research indicate that the extent to which jobs are sex stereotyped dictates whether or not a main effect for rate sex is present in performance evaluations. The purpose of this study was to further examine the relationship between the sex stereotype of the job and the presence of sex bias in evaluation. Two hundred and five undergraduate psychology students viewed one of eight videotapes of a confederate job applicant performing a work sample task and evaluated the observed performance. A 2 x 2 x 2 between …

An Exploratory Study Of Organizational Trust & Its Multiple Dimensions: A Case Study Of General Motors, Kerry Hart

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Over 1700 employees of the General Motors Corporation defined trust and described personal work experiences that affected their trust toward the organization. These employee comments were factor analyzed to determine the dimensions of organizational trust. An instrument was developed from employee comments to measure the level of trust in a GM location. With the level of trust quantified, the demographic effects on trust and the relationship between trust and management's communication effectiveness were investigated.

This approach provided new knowledge of trust in an industrial environment. Three dimensions of organizational trust were identified: Openness/Congruity, Shared Values, and Autonomy/Feedback. Age, length of …

The Traditional Sex-Stereotype Of A Job As A Moderator Variable For The Directionality Of Sex Biases In Performance Evaluation, Bernard Bena

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Accurate and objective performance appraisals are absolutely necessary due to their utility in important personnel decisions such as promotion, demotion and training. This study examines the contaminating effects of sex bias on performance evaluations and it's relationship to the sex-stereotype of the job and levels of performance. Unlike previous studies, this study not only examines these effects at the extremes of performance, but at average levels as well. Also, unlike previous studies, the subjects empirically determined the sex-typed nature of the jobs and the levels of performance within those jobs rather than the experimenter having made a priori decisions. Hypothetical …

The Operational Effectiveness Of The Behavioral Expectations Scale & The Mixed Standard Scale: A Comparative Evaluation, Deborah Boniske

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Performance evaluations were obtained on firefighters in a large Midwestern City. The evaluations were conducted through utilization of two different scale types (The Behavioral Expectation Scale and The Mixed Standard Scale). These evaluations were obtained in order to test the hypotheses that the MSS was psychometrically superior to the BES in the reduction of halo and leniency error and that the MSS was also the better scale type in terms of producing higher interrater reliability. Leniency error (in both the absolute and comparative sense) was examined by conducting a series of T-tests. Halo error was investigated by a comparison of …

Stereotype Bias In Selection: A Process Approach, Donald V. Currie

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This investigation was to determine if an applicant’s sex and the job’s sex orientation stereotypes affected the evaluation of applicant information and subsequent selection decision outcomes. Interviewers (N=48) were asked to rate the employment suitability of 49 hypothetical applicants. The results indicated that an interaction of the applicant’s sex and job’s sex orientation had marginal affect on the importance weightings in two of the four applicant attribute factors, motivation/ability and personality/appearance. Applicants with equivalent qualifications did not receive comparable employment suitability ratings, Unfair job discrimination was demonstrated by these data. It was concluded that the applicant’s sex and the job’s …

A Survey Of The Work-Study Programs In The State Universities Of Kentucky, Glen Knight

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study was undertaken to determine the status of the work-study programs in the eight state universities of Kentucky. A review of the literature indicated that little research had been conducted in the area of work-study administration, and thus this study was performed to increase the knowledge in this area. A questionnaire was developed to survey the work study program at the eight universities concerning the following three areas: organization and administration, evaluation procedures, and professional preparation. A high degree of centralization was indicated at all of the universities in regard to their student work programs, and administrative policy was …