Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons^™

Leading Horses To Water During A Pandemic: Assuring Communication Learning For "Quants", Thomas Hall

International Journal for Business Education

Students who are attracted to quantitative disciplines of study can be reluctant to devote much attention to the important task of communicating, and previous research (Hostager, 2018) has identified statistically significant differences in learning approaches by major among undergraduate business students. This paper presents results of learning assurance for writing skills (direct measures) even when the content of the course relates to the highly quantitative topics of data analytics and finance. The approach combines various pedagogical methods in an undergraduate, writing-intensive setting: traditional testing but in an iterative framework, “flipped classroom” intensive work using spreadsheet software, repeated submission of brief …

Weakness Is The New Strength: How Vulnerability Makes Leaders Stronger, Scott Dick

Transform

Weakness is the new strength: How vulnerability makes leaders stronger is the result from the meta-analysis of five phenomenological studies designed to generate a theory that explains how exemplar leaders from five different fields used “soft-skills” and four domains of behavior to create mutual shared knowledge, resolve conflict and transform relationships to produce breakthrough results. The four domains of behavior are communication, collaboration, ethics, and emotional intelligence. The sample was composed of 75 exemplar leaders from five different professional fields and included an analysis of over 1,300 pages of interview transcripts as the main data source for the study. The …

The Effect Of Cross-Functional Integration On Organizational Performance: A Look At Collaboration, Coordination, And Communication, Loraine A. Jackson

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cross-functional integration (CFI) in organizations involves a sequence of integrated tasks and activities across multiple departments and units. Modern organizations are hierarchical and have separated functional departments. This may lead to limited reciprocal communication and poor coordination. Work is often divided, categorized, and poses a challenge for CFI personnel to be practical. This challenge continues as technology and organizational structures change.

This study is to investigate the effect of CFI on organization performance. The study also looked at CFI from a triadic level of analysis, a broader perspective involving several functional units and processes within the organization. Specifically, this study …

Priming In Leadership: Applying Communication Theory To The Speeches Of Ronald Reagan, Katherine Sakai

Senior Honors Theses

The study of priming gained traction in the 1990s when researchers such as John Bargh demonstrated the nonconscious activation of ideas, often through repeated related words or activated schema. Since then, researchers have studied the effects of priming on self-view, achievement, and teamwork. While the concept of priming has just recently begun to be applied to leadership in the workplace, no research has yet been done in finding examples of priming theory in the speeches of well-known leaders. In this study, Ronald Reagan’s persuasive tactics were analyzed and found to use similar methods of repetition and schema used in priming …

Chief Nurse Executive Work Engagement: System Leadership Through A Natural Disaster, Strike, And Pandemic, Ryan Fuller

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Problem. In a 21-hospital region of a 39-hospital integrated health system, CNE turnover peaked at 63% (12 CNEs) in 2015. Interviews were conducted in 2019 with 12 CNEs across the region to understand potential issues related to CNE job satisfaction. Responses revealed concerns regarding empowerment, alignment, work-life balance, information transparency/sharing, and recognition. While identifying a solution to address CNE concerns, the organization experienced successive crisis events during a 12-month period that included a record-setting wildfire, multiple labor union strikes, and a novel pandemic. The regional leadership team (RLT) required new approaches to facilitate effective communication during a crisis between the …

Using Input From Landlords Participating In The Dothan Housing Authority's Housing Choice Voucher Program (Hcvp) To Streamline Operations And Increase Retention, Michael C. Threatt

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

The Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) is a public-private partnership between a landlord, voucher holder, and a Public Housing Authority (PHA). However, this public-private partnership appears to be a two-sided partnership instead of a three-way partnership as the HCVP was designed. Over 110,000 landlords have withdrawn from the HCVP since 2009, which has negatively affected housing choices for voucher holders. This phenomenon of landlords leaving the HCVP is a catastrophe problem for the rental housing crisis that is a part of the larger affordable housing crisis. The perception of institutional bureaucracy for landlords is their reality, and the unintended consequence …

Conflict Resolution Strategies Used By Civilian Small Business Managers On Military Bases, Tavarus James Dunbar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Unresolved conflict is responsible for at least 50% of resignations in the workplace, which negatively affects an organization's reputation and profitability. Although there has been ample research on the link between conflict resolution and leadership, there was limited research on conflict aboard military installations specifically. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore conflict resolution strategies of civilian small business managers who work on a military installation in Southern Arizona. The theory of realistic conflict, or realistic group conflict theory, was used as the conceptual framework for this study. The data collection process involved semistructured interviews of 11 …

Effective Strategies Used By Restaurant Managers To Reduce Employee Absenteeism, Dawn Renita Johnson-Tate

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee absenteeism costs organizations in the U.S. restaurant industry more than 15% of profits each year. Some restaurant managers lack strategies to reduce employee absenteeism. Using the expectancy theory, the purpose of this single case study was to explore effective strategies that restaurant managers use to reduce employee absenteeism. The target population was managers of a single restaurant, known for successfully implemented strategies to reduce employee absenteeism, located in the Baltimore-Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Data collection included semistructured face-to-face interviews with 3 managers and a review of company archival documents such as memorandums, training documents, employee records, and employee performance …

From Play To Performance: Building An Effective Organization, Jessica N. Selee, Jade Johnson, Jocelyn N. Murray, Anna Samuelson, Jasmine Li, Andrew Lacanienta, Mat D. Duerden, Mark Widmer

Marriott Student Review

Under the Mentored Experience Grant, six students studies the impact that non-work activities (recreation or leisure) have on individual contributors or organization. Some employees refrain from participating in Leisure-at-Work (LAW) due to lack of time or skill, to cliques, to differing preferences, or fear of negative connotations. Employees report that LAW increases productivity, establishes and enriches social interactions, improves communication, attracts and retains employees in a company, and facilitates a culture of engagement, trust, and camaraderie. At the conclusion of our analysis, we identified areas of future research and recommendations for best practice.

Market Analysis, Management Consulting, And Miscommunication, Brian W. Stout

Marriott Student Review

This article attempts to inform the audience of the importance of market analysis in management consulting. The article states that consulting firms can utilize the power of market analysis as they commit to understand technology, collaborate with researchers to conduct action research, and align market strategies within the consulting firm. This article concludes that by doing these steps consulting firms will lead in their market.

Creating Sustainable Supply Chains: Influencing Sustainable Practices In The Supply Chain, Saif Mir

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Organizations worldwide are reporting their commitment to create sustainable supply chains. Ultimately, supply chain professionals are the drivers of change within their respective organizations, so this dissertation examines the role of communication as a tool to persuade supply chain professionals to create sustainable supply chains. The three studies within this dissertation employ different methodologies to examine the role of communication in the development and implementation of sustainability initiatives. The first study, a grounded theory investigation, highlights the network, communication, and structural factors that provide a strong business case for the development of sustainability initiatives. A strong business case influences the …

Strategies For Increasing Employee Engagement In The Service Industry, Tonia Ann Walker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The annual loss to U.S. organizations consequential to a lack of employee engagement was approximately $300 billion in 2013. Employee engagement is vital to the business sustainability of an organization. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore successful strategies that business leaders of a service organization used to increase employee engagement. The conceptual framework guiding this study was the behavior engineering model theory developed by Gilbert. A purposeful sample of 6 engineering managers was selected based on their success in creating strategies resulting in increased employee workplace engagement in a monopoly service organization in Connecticut. Semistructured …

College Students Use Social Networking Sites For Sharing With Friends, But Guess Who Else Is Looking?, Liz Alexander, Fred Mader, Deanna Mader

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

Jobvite, a recruiting platform for the social web, reports from their annual 2012 survey of recruiters that 92% of U.S. companies are using social networking sites (SNS) for hiring purposes (Jobvit, 2012). Career Builder reported in 2009 that 45% of employers were using SNS to screen and research applicants (CareerBuilder, 2009). It is important that faculty and support staff working to place students, and the students themselves, understand the developments and practices in the use of social networking sites for job search and recruiting and the best methods, as well as detriments when marketing themselves. This study examines corporate recruiters’, …

Workplace Dignity: Communicating Inherent, Earned, And Remediated Dignity, Kristen Lucas

Faculty Scholarship

Extant research on dignity at work has revealed conditions that contribute to indignity, employees’ responses to dignity threats, and ways in which employees’ inherent dignity is undermined. But while dignity – and specifically indignity – is theorized as a phenomenon subjectively experienced and judged by individuals, little research has privileged workers’ own perspectives. In this study, working adults reveal how they personally experience and understand meanings of dignity at work. I describe three core components of workplace dignity and the communicative exchanges through which dignity desires commonly are affirmed or denied: inherent dignity as recognized by respectful interaction, earned dignity …

Boomers Vs. Gen Y—The New Communication Gap, Sara Bennett

White Papers

A key issue between Baby Boomer managers and Generation Y employees is a difference of opinion on how often feedback regarding performance should be administered and the mode of feedback that is appropriate. Effective communication is essential for performance and productivity.

Interpreting, Stephanie Jo Kent

Doctoral Dissertations

What do community interpreting for the Deaf in western societies, conference interpreting for the European Parliament, and language brokering in international management have in common? Academic research and professional training have historically emphasized the linguistic and cognitive challenges of interpreting, neglecting or ignoring the social aspects that structure communication. All forms of interpreting are inherently social; they involve relationships among at least three people and two languages. The contexts explored here, American Sign Language/English interpreting and spoken language interpreting within the European Parliament, show that simultaneous interpreting involves attitudes, norms and values about intercultural communication that overemphasize information and discount …

Let's Stick Together: The Finance Function As Glue, Mark E. Pickering

Mark E Pickering

Finance can play a valuable role in helping align the different organisational departments more closely to achieve a common goal. This article indicates some of the causes of friction between departments and provides suggestions as to how finance executives and managers can contribute to greater alignment.

Dispersed Leadership: Exploring The Impact Of Antecedent Forms Of Power Using A Communicative Framework, Ray Gordon

Ray Gordon

This article presents an account of a police organization's attempt to implement what senior officers described as a dispersed leadership initiative. A communicative framework is used to show how a particular historically constituted discourse is embedded in the communicative actions of those officers who participated in the study. Analysis of the effects of this discourse reveals how the organization's dispersion of leadership, although on the surface representing a new and successful endeavor, is rendered problematic by what the article terms antecedent forms of power.

Art And Space: Impacting The Workplace, Erin V. Mccool

Senior Honors Theses

Art in its various forms and applications has always been a part of the human experience. Art can be intrusive, thought provoking, or simply beautiful. Although art comes in many different styles and forms, art continues to capture our imagination. The purposes of this thesis are to discover how art affects human activity in the workplace as well as the qualities that make artwork in the workplace successful. Based on the findings of this study, artwork will be created for the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence at Liberty University in order to create a lively, creative environment. By …

Slippage In The System: The Effects Of Errors In Transactive Memory Behavior On Team Performance, Matthew Pearsall, Aleksander Ellis, Bradford Bell

Bradford S Bell

[Excerpt] Although researchers have consistently shown that the implicit coordination provided by transactive memory positively affects team performance, the benefits of transactive memory systems depend heavily on team members’ ability to accurately identify the expertise of their teammates and communicate expertise-specific information with one another. This introduces the opportunity for errors to enter the system, as the expertise of individual team members may be misunderstood or misrepresented, leading to the reliance on information from the wrong source or the loss of information through incorrect assignment. As Hollingshead notes, “information may be transferred or explicitly delegated to the ‘wrong’ individual in …

Work Teams, Bradford S. Bell, Steve W. J. Kozlowski

Bradford S Bell

[Excerpt] Teams serve as the basic building blocks of modern organizations and represent a critical means by which work is accomplished in today's world. Therefore, significant research during the past few decades has been focused on understanding work team effectiveness. This entry looks at the history of this research and what it says about team types, team composition, team development, team processes, and team effectiveness.

The Impact Of Task- And Team-Generic Teamwork Skills Training On Team Effectiveness, Aleksander P. J. Ellis, Bradford S. Bell, Robert E. Ployhart, John R. Hollenbeck, Daniel R. Ilgen

Bradford S Bell

This study examined the effects of training team members in three task- and teamgeneric teamwork skills: planning and task coordination, collaborative problem solving, and communication. We first examined the degree to which task- and team-generic teamwork skills training impacted team performance on a task unrelated to the content of the training program.We then examined whether the effects of task- and team-generic teamwork skills training on team performance were due to the transfer of skills directly related to planning and task coordination, collaborative problem solving, and communication. Results from 65 four-person project teams indicated that task- and team-generic teamwork skills training …

Generational Perceptions Of Productive/Unproductive Information Received From Management Through Different Communication Channels, Eva Lynn Cowell

Doctoral Dissertations

This exploratory study identified generational preferences for receiving information from management through different communication channels and determined if age predicted productivity for productive and unproductive information received through different communication channels. This is the first study to empirically examine the relationship between age cohorts, communication channel preferences, information categories, and productivity. Sample participants worked as Extension agents at a major land-grant university. The four generations represented in the sample utilized multiple communication channels and were geographically dispersed throughout the state. The survey was administered electronically and completed by 204 (74%) of the eligible 275 employees in the organization. Independent Samples …