Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons^™

A Mixed Methods Study: Evaluating The Relationship Of Project Manager Competencies And It Project Management Methodologies, Keith A. Mcdermott

Open Access Theses

Determining skillsets that are particularly important to the development of an effective project manager can be useful for a variety of applications. These applications range from the hiring of a new project manager for an organization to continued training for current employees. Past research has called upon current project managers to rate what skillsets they see as important to the cultivation of an optimal or effective project manager. Additional research has expanded this idea to determine how skillsets vary between project managers and functional managers (El-Sabaa, 2001). While this research is certainly important, skillset grouping can be further explored. This …

Identifying And Prioritizing Critical Success Factors For Fixed Base Operators In The United States: A Mixed Method Approach, Yu Wang

Open Access Dissertations

Fixed Base Operators (FBOs) are major service providers for the general aviation (GA) sector, which closely connect the public with the aviation industry. However, over the past decade, the U.S. GA industry has experienced a decline in the numbers of registered aircraft, pilots, and airports. Due to the fact that FBOs significantly contribute to the aviation industry, further research studies regarding the FBO-sector at a national level are needed. The purpose of this dissertation was to identify and prioritize the critical success factors (CSFs) that promote the success of FBO operations in the United States.

The methodology consisted of a …

To Overcome Communication Challenges In Distributed/Virtual Scrum Teams, Priyamvada Walimbe

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this research is to give an overview of a scrum in distributed teams and to suggest ways overcome communication challenges in such projects. In this research proposal, the latest available research on a scrum in distributed teams will be thoroughly analyzed and evaluated to know the possible solutions for communication problems in distributed teams. A review of the literature suggested scrum is widely accepted agile methodology in software projects and also it works best within collocated teams. However, the literature review also proposes that lack of proper communication is one of the main challenge faced by distributed …

A Different Approach To Project Management: The Use Of Soft Skills, Hannah Adams

Dissertations and Theses

The term soft skills is traditionally used to describe interpersonal and subjective skills such as leadership, communication, and emotional intelligence. This paper addresses a further explanation of soft skills, their relation to project management, project management education, and the highlighted differences between a transactional leader and a transformational leader. Project management has often been defined as the making of schedules/tasks; but more importantly providing the inspiration, motivation, and facilitator of great minds to produce innovative ideas. Because of the sheer necessity for human interaction within the project management profession, soft skills are of crucial concern. Although mastering soft skills is …

Challenges When Using Scrum In Globally Distributed Teams, Sweta Shah

Dissertations and Theses

The interest of companies towards using agile approaches in GSD projects is growing at a rapid pace. On that note, it is extremely vital to consider the challenging factors involved in agile practices such as scrum in GSD projects. However, the remarkable and effective attempts towards precisely identify, synthesize and report the literature on agile practices for GSD projects have always been inadequate (Hossain, AliBabar & Young Paik, 2009).

With the purpose of encouraging research committee to explore and analyze the projects that implements scrum process in globally distributed environment, the thesis paper places great emphasis on challenges involved with …

Erp Critical Success Factors: Importance Of Erp Consultants In Erp Implementation, Adekunle S. Balogun

Dissertations and Theses

Enterprise Resource Planning, ERP is one of the most popular and successful information technology solution used in many organizations to share information within different business units to enhance and maximize productivity. The system is expensive, time-consuming, and complicated to implement and manage. The difficulties of ERP implementation have resulted in high rates of unsuccessful ERP implementation according to the stories of many organizations that have implemented the solution. The failure of ERP implementation has then led to several studies to investigate the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) that could influence the ERP implementation during and after implementation phases. Some of the …

Retail Analytics And Optimization For Store-Wide Shelf-Space Management, Tulay Flamand

Doctoral Dissertations

A major constituent of modern-time economies, retailing is a vibrant business sector that is marked by high competition, tight profit margins, novel business strategies in online and in-store environments, and demanding consumers. Driven by massive volumes of point-of-sale data, retail analytics has become instrumental for unveiling better managerial practices. Our research falls under the umbrella of retail shelf space management. In self-service outlets, shelf space constitutes a scarce resource and its management is central to ensuring an attractive shopping experience and a profitable business. We investigate how, under a given store layout, the allocation of product categories can be optimized …

Service Improvement And Cost Reduction For Airlines: Optimal Policies For Managing Arrival And Departure Operations Under Uncertainty, Heng Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

Annual U.S. air travel demand has been growing steadily by 4-5% over the last decade, and it is estimated that the demand will nearly double in the next twenty years. It has also been estimated by the International Civil Aviation Organization that global demand for commercial aircraft will increase at an average annual rate of 4.1% by 2034 (IATA, 2014). However, airport expansions and aviation infrastructure upgrades have not kept pace with the increase in air traffic demand, as only 3% of all the new airport projects around the world are planned in the U.S. (CAPA, 2015). Thus, the operation …

Network Game Theory Models Of Services And Quality Competition With Applications To Future Internet Architectures And Supply Chains, Sara Saberi

Doctoral Dissertations

The Internet has transformed the way in which we conduct business and perform economic and financial transactions. One key challenge of the Internet is the inefficiency of the mechanisms by which technology is deployed and the business and economic models surrounding these processes (Wolf et al. (2014)). Equilibrium models for the Internet generally assume basic economic relationships. However, in new paradigms for the Internet and in supply chain networks, price is not the only factor; quality of service (QoS) is also of increasing importance. Supply chains networks, which give us the means to manufacture products and deliver them to points …

A Case Study On Ppl's Journey To Agile Transition, Jayalakshmi Tenali

Dissertations and Theses

PPL Pennsylvania Power and Light Electric Utility Company is one of the largest power and light provider. PPL was found in 1920 and since then PPL has developed and extended its business over Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Great Britain. PPL performs planning and managing of several different Agile and Traditional projects. This paper will contain the information on PPL value services and challenges faced in developing traditional projects and agile projects. Attaining and maintaining competitive advantage of the company in the market.

Challenges faced by the human resources in Agile and waterfall projects and with the implementation of using latest technical …

Examining The Relationship Of Emotional Intelligence, Trust, And Performance In Self- Directed, Professional Teams In A U.S. Private Wealth Services Work Environment, Dorothy O. Elder

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation examines the relationship of team emotional intelligence, intra-team trust, and team performance in self-directed, professional teams in a Private Wealth Services work environment. Teams represented four of the institution’s geographic divisions, with twenty-nine professional advisors who reported to thirteen supervisors. A conceptual model linking team emotional intelligence-individual resource, intra-team trust, and team emotional intelligence-synergy to team performance is presented. The model depicts a novel way of thinking about the team emotional intelligence relationship to team performance. The findings offer leaders the opportunity to design targeted interventions with a goal of improving team performance.

A Mixed Methods Study On Choice Of Media Influence On Construction Industry Communication, Luciana De Cresce El Debs

Open Access Dissertations

This study focuses on the use of different communication media for solving problems in the construction industry. The focus of this research is on design-problems containing spatial information and are informally reported between site supervision and design professionals. Due to the fragmented nature of the construction industry, miscommunication is a well-known and common problem. Yet, this fragmented nature is necessary in order to build a complex product involving many different types of professionals. To better understand the issue, this study uses previous literature, such as those published on media richness theory, problem-solving strategy, and construction specific communications, in a three-phased …

Supporting Space Systems Design Via Systems Dependency Analysis Methodology, Cesare Guariniello

Open Access Dissertations

The increasing size and complexity of space systems and space missions pose severe challenges to space systems engineers. When complex systems and Systems-of-Systems are involved, the behavior of the whole entity is not only due to that of the individual systems involved but also to the interactions and dependencies between the systems. Dependencies can be varied and complex, and designers usually do not perform analysis of the impact of dependencies at the level of complex systems, or this analysis involves excessive computational cost, or occurs at a later stage of the design process, after designers have already set detailed requirements, …

Demand Uncertainty And Investment In The Restaurant Industry, Jayoung Sohn

Open Access Dissertations

Since the collapse of the housing market, the prolonged economic uncertainty lingering in the U.S. economy has dampened restaurant performance. Economic uncertainty affects consumer sentiment and spending, turning into demand uncertainty. Nevertheless, the highly competitive nature of the restaurant industry does not allow much room for restaurants to actively control prices, leaving most food service firms exposed to demand uncertainty. To investigate the impact of demand uncertainty in the restaurant industry, this study focused on the implications of demand uncertainty for investment.

The first essay in chapter 3 examined the impact of demand uncertainty on investment and how the impact …

Conquerors Or Cost-Cutters? The Influence Of Ceo Power On Corporate Restructuring And Aggressive Strategic Behavior, Ana M. Sariol

Theses and Dissertations

How do dominant (powerful) Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) influence corporate strategic behavior? Do they disproportionately focus on restructuring (cost-cutting or efficiency-enhancing) strategies in an attempt to run an efficient business? Alternatively, do they instead pursue aggressive (domain-creating) corporate strategies (i.e. engage in "empire-building") that not only expand the scope of the firm but also their personal influence? Current research evidence in the corporate governance literature is ambiguous when it comes to the relationship between CEO power and the choice of conservative vs. aggressive corporate strategies. Most studies in the literature use a piece meal approach and examine the influence of …

Hybrid Agile Approach: Efficiently Blending Traditional And Agile Methodologies, Rashmi Wankhede

Dissertations and Theses

Agile development, in its simplest form, offers a lightweight framework for helping teams, given a constantly evolving functional and technical landscape, maintain a focus on the rapid delivery of business value. Traditional project management focuses more on distinct and predefined sequential phases. It assumes that once requirements are fixed there won’t be any changes or additions in future. In today’s world however this is not true and development teams have to incorporate changes at later stages to be competitive. This is where agile methodologies have an edge over traditional methods. Agile can handle more complex and highly adaptable projects. However, …

Adopting Agile Scrum, Anirudh Chaganti

Dissertations and Theses

Agile Scrum has created great impact on project management. It has shown promising results and return of investment. This research paper fully gives reports on what type of projects actually fit with Scrum. Many teams tend to fail to during the migration and I will be putting forward points which will explain how and what things will happen in the teams during the migration from traditional methodology to agile Scrum. I will be discussing about the problem statements, success and failure factors our team come across during implementing scrum and come up with solution to figure out the ways for …

Scrum Sim - A Simulation Game To Learn The Scrum Agile Framework, Anshuman Bassi

Dissertations and Theses

In recent times, organizations have been attempting to shift from Traditional project management methodologies such as waterfall model to incorporate agile methodologies such as scrum for their project development. The main features of these agile methods include incremental and iterative delivery that allows inclusion of the requirement changes at any stage of the project lifecycle and the most commonly used agile method is scrum. As are result of wide usage of agile mythology in the IT industry, scrum framework is now being taught in various software engineering and project management courses. Even though scrum has been introduced in various academic …

A Comparison Of Managerial And Leadership Effectiveness Of Veteran And Civilian Developed Leaders In A Civilian Context, John C. Dexter

Human Resource Development Theses and Dissertations

Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, there has been an increase in American patriotism that has facilitated a strong commitment of U.S. employers to actively recruit and hire military veterans. These highly publicized employer veteran hiring commitments easily number in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. However, the commitments to employ veterans does not specify how these veterans will be employed. In fact, there is wide-spread difficulty in translating military training and experience to civilian applications, and there is virtually no empirical support as to whether veterans will be more of less successful in civilian employment than …

Dynamic Pricing And Inventory Management: Theory And Applications, Renyu Zhang

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We develop the models and methods to study the impact of some emerging trends in technology, marketplace, and society upon the pricing and inventory policy of a firm. We focus on the situation where the firm is in a dynamic, uncertain, and (possibly) competitive market environment. The market trends of particular interest to us are: (a) social networks, (b) sustainability concerns, and (c) customer behaviors. The two main running questions this dissertation aims to address are: (a) How these emerging market trends would influence the operations decisions and profitability of a firm; and (b) What pricing and inventory strategies a …

Managing A Crisis: Should America Continue To Encourage Its Youth To Participate In Football Given Recent Findings On Player Safety And Concussions, Brock Matava

Honors Theses

In recent years, more light has been shed on player safety issues when it comes to youth sports, football especially. The major emphasis of concern is on reducing concussion rates among our youth and an exposure to the potentially lifelong disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Financially however, the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of football anywhere in the world, is healthier than it has ever been. If the NFL wants to stay on the fast-track it currently enjoys, concussions and player safety are two issues that it will undoubtedly be under pressure to face. The pros and cons …

How Competition, Customization, And Niche Markets Have Affected Sku Proliferation And Management, Alexander Eugene Huggs

Senior Theses

Differentiation has become a major competitive advantage. The end result is that many companies and businesses have found a competitive advantage by offering a wide variety of products. While Henry Ford may have only had to keep up with a limited number of parts for his relatively standard Model T, the Ford Motor Company now sells sixteen different models of consumer vehicles. This has not only happened to the Ford Motor Company. Growth in the number of stock keeping units (SKUs) is present across most consumer goods. What has caused this explosion in SKUs, how have companies adapted warehouses and …

Business Consultation Of Select Best Practices To An Animated Film Studio: How To Produce The Most Successful Film You Can, Joshua Christian Blackwood

Senior Theses

This thesis is framed as a mock consultation to an animated film studio to advise them on what factors they need to take into consideration in order to produce the most successful product that they can. Quantitative research and statistical analysis will be conducted to answer this question and the conclusions drawn should offer valuable insight to a film studio. Major elements of a movie to be examined will be pulled from both creator and viewer sides of the experience.

A Correlational Study Of Mid-Level Managers Examining Emotional Intelligence And Coaching Dimensions, Christopher Berg

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative correlational case study was to explore how mid-level managers’ emotional intelligence, as established through the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal (EIA), correlates with their executive coaching dimensions as revealed by the Extraordinary Coach Self-Assessment (ECSA). This study used the Talentsmart Inc. (EIA) tool to evaluate retail telecommunications (telecom) managers’ emotional intelligence competencies and Zenger Folkman’s (ECSA) tool to evaluate retail telecom managers’ coaching dimensions anonymously through the survey instrument. The need for this specific research is evident because of the limited number of quantitative studies regarding the importance of emotional intelligence and its relationship to coaching in …

Utilizing The Signaling Theory In Order To Enhance Minority Recruitment In Law Enforcement, Donald B. Terheide

Open Access Dissertations

Minority recruitment has been an emphasis for law enforcement agencies for decades. These agencies have attempted to recruit minority officers through different venues, including college visits, career fairs, advertising, high school visits, community organizations, and other avenues in an attempt to have their department more representative of the community. However, there has been a limited amount of research on the potential applicants’ perspective concerning how these recruiting efforts have persuaded them, and the messages conveyed to the applicants.

This dissertation has been written utilizing the Signaling Theory, and determining what signals are sent to minority applicants, and how they are …

A Study Of Perceptions Of Pay Systems, Kayla S. Alford

Honors Theses

This is a study which is interested in perceptions people have toward the varying forms of labor compensation. It specifically compares perceptions of hourly pay with those of performance-based pay(PBP). A survey instrument was used to gather individual perceptions of pay systems by sampling the students in the College of Business at a southern university. This study tested and confirmed that PBP is rated significantly more positive than hourly pay by its respondents. This study also tests whether workplace experience or classroom experience has a significant impact on respondents’ ratings of PBP or hourly pay. Respondents rated PBP attributes more …

Research Paper On Content Management Systems (Cms): Problems In The Traditional Model And Advantages Of Cms In Managing Corporate Websites, Elanchezhian Ramalingam

Dissertations and Theses

This research paper is on the problem companies faces with the existing traditional model of website management and the advantages or improvement that Content Management System brings to them. Web content management is the discipline of collecting, organizing, categorizing, and structuring information that is to be delivered on a website. CMSs support a distributed content model by separating the content from the presentation and giving the content provider an easy to use interface for adding content.

The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it is aimed to observe how business users manages the contents directly without depending on technical …

Cell Phone Ethnography: Mixed Methods And The Brand Consumer Relationship, Robert Nathaniel Dove

Masters Theses

Overall, the goal of this study is to identify and differentiate the various motivations and cultural influences that can be used to explain consumer behavior. In doing so, this study hopes to facilitate the development of new and innovative marketing strategies, providing a new research design for the ethnographer’s toolkit. More importantly, this model can give shape to new constructs and new variables for further empirical testing in the field through quantitative and qualitative methods. By blending the two approaches, using qualitative interpretive anthropological analysis by field study with quantitative sentiment analysis adapted from market researcher Jeffery Breen’s (2012) methodology, …

Supply Chain Risks: Causes & Mitigation Strategy For The Medical Device Companies, Dipak Patil

Dissertations and Theses

The objective of this research is to profile the risk involved with the external procurement and what risk mitigation strategy need to be in place to avoid any disruptions in the supply chain.

To limit the scope of the research, Focus will be only on the buy items used for building the capital equipment at Medtronic. For research, data is gathered by doing creating the survey which will be distributed among the external suppliers and by doing interviews with people from different functions.

Hybrid Project Management Approach For Software Modernization, Chintan Bhavsar

Dissertations and Theses

Software modernization or legacy modernization, refers to the conversion, rewriting or porting of a legacy system to a modern computer programming language, software libraries, protocols, or hardware platform. Legacy transformation aims to retain and extend the value of the legacy investment through migration to new platforms [1]. Currently, I am working as a Senior Business Analyst with Blue Cross Blue Shield, one of the largest insurance provider in the United States across the health sector. I am deployed to work on their initiative towards software modernization along the healthcare industry through their software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform – “The Healthcare Online Resources …