Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Team Member Implicit Theories Of Team Development: Relationships With Team Member Behavior, Team Viability And Team Performance, Marilyn Ann Perkins

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined the relationship of team effectiveness and members' implicit theories of team development. Implicit theories are individuals' preconceptions of the relative importance of team development variables associated with team effectiveness. Team development variables assessed in this study were communication, cohesion, norms, role clarity, conflict, and participation.

The first hypothesis predicted a direct relationship between implicit theories of team development and behavior. Hypothesis one also predicted this relationship would be enhanced by convergence of individual implicit theories with remaining team members' implicit theories. It was also hypothesized that there is a positive relationship between convergence of implicit theories among …

The Evolution Of Financial Practices And Financial Structures Among American Manufacturers, 1875-1905: Case Studies Of The Sugar Refining And Meat Packing Industries, William Michael Doyle

Doctoral Dissertations

Two salient features of late nineteenth century American economic development were the appearance of a multitude of large, horizontally or vertically integrated manufacturing corporations, and the emergence of a sophisticated market for industrial securities. According to most economist and economic historians, both of these developments can be attributed primarily to increased deficit financing requirements among late nineteenth century American manufacturers. This was presumed to have resulted largely from technological innovations in manufacturing that increased both total capital requirements and the minimum size of the required initial investment in many industries. These developments were thought to have necessitated the creation and …

Authorities On Ourselves: Being Lesbian In Heterosexist Culture -- Can Personal Meaning Inform Social Work Practice?, Sue Cover Wright

Doctoral Dissertations

This study was designed to explore the social reality of lesbian women. Its theoretical base lies in the social constructionist theory that the social context interacts with personal experience to create social meaning. Professional social science literature presents a confused account of lesbianism. Clinical studies have diagnosed and labeled lesbianism as a disease, a dysfunctional personality disorder, or poor social adjustment. Recent studies viewed them as an oppressed minority group. Few studies have gone to the source and asked the women to define themselves -- what it is like to be lesbian in our culture; what their experience means to …

Railroad Deregulation And Rail Rates: A Disaggregated Analysis, Mark L. Burton

Doctoral Dissertations

This investigation first provides a highly disaggregated study of deregulated railroad rates for seventeen commodities. The results indicate that the Staggers Rail Act fundamentally altered the way in which rail carriers price their services. Rates now adhere more closely to incurred costs and exhibit a heightened sensitivity to the presence of both intermodal and intramodal competition. The model is then extended to accommodate the possibility of shipper responses to changed carrier behavior. The results of this extension suggest that shippers have responded eagerly to altered railroad behavior by changing the characteristics of their shipments. Together, the changes in railroad behavior …