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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
More Than A Search Engine: Undergraduate Perspectives On Library Instruction, Kristine Vick
More Than A Search Engine: Undergraduate Perspectives On Library Instruction, Kristine Vick
Theses and Graduate Projects
Historically, libraries have been repositories of knowledge for scholars. Overtime, libraries have evolved into media centers that include digital access points, instructional spaces, and comfortable gathering places. As school libraries transition to accommodate the 2lst century learner, are educators meeting the needs of the college and career bound students they serve? The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain insight into the information literacy instruction that occurs in high school libraries. Specifically, how effective this instruction was in preparing students for college. This research was conducted with five undergraduates attending college in a variefy of public and private institutions. …
Kenyan Immigrant Elders' Attitudes Toward Disabilities, Josephat Makori Nyangau
Kenyan Immigrant Elders' Attitudes Toward Disabilities, Josephat Makori Nyangau
Theses and Graduate Projects
Kenyan immigrant elders' attitudes toward disabilities can best be explained in two ways: before and after emigrating. The purpose of this research study was to investigate Kenyan immigrant elders' attitude toward disabilities. Using qualitative research methods, three participants were selected to be interviewed one-on-one using specific guiding questions. Five themes emerged from the data: family attitudes toward disabilities, consideration of disabilities as diseases, views on disability categories, causes of disabilities, and the care of individuals with disabilities. Findings from this research study have the potential to enable educators to develop a better cross-cultural perspective when dealing with immigrant elders in …
Teen Pregnancy And The Latino Community: Informing A Youth Worker, Lindsey N. Boster Decker
Teen Pregnancy And The Latino Community: Informing A Youth Worker, Lindsey N. Boster Decker
Theses and Graduate Projects
Across the nation we are experiencing very high numbers of teen pregnancies within the Latino community. Time is of the essence, with schools and communities finding themselves increasingly overwhelmed with questions on how to address this issue. This research project identified some of the major risk and protective factors specific to teen pregnancy in the Latino community, some of the key behaviors and beliefs that make teen pregnancy in the Latino community a complex matter, and recommendations for educators/youth workers who encounter this circumstance in their own work. Research for this project was gained via in-depth interviews with four research …
Leadership Strategies That Foster Innovation And Creattvity In 21st Century Organizations, Patricia Dianne Carlson
Leadership Strategies That Foster Innovation And Creattvity In 21st Century Organizations, Patricia Dianne Carlson
Theses and Graduate Projects
In an increasingly change-driven world, leaders are called upon to evolve their mindsets and skill-sets to reflect and serve the demands for innovation that characterize the 2Ist century. In this research, I examined the leadership strategies that foster innovation and creativity as a stimulus for sustained competitive advantage in organizations. Creativity without innovation in an organization is a wasted effort. However, without creative ideas there is nothing to promote, feed and develop the innovation process. I focus on three critical questions: What type of organizational climate fosters innovation and creativity? What is leadership's role in fostering innovation and creativity? What …
Transformational Leadership And Profitability In A Retail Setting, Barbara Koziol
Transformational Leadership And Profitability In A Retail Setting, Barbara Koziol
Theses and Graduate Projects
Creative Kidstuff, a privately owned company with five retail locations in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and a sixth location in West Des Moines, Iowa, experienced rapid growth in its first 15 years of business, Sales started to decline due to vendor mergers, consolidations, and bankruptcies along with increased competition from other toy retailers and the advent of on-line shopping. Transformational leadership has been shown to be effective in organizations undergoing change. My hypothesis was that there are significant leadership differences between stores which are highly profitable and those that are not. The Creative Kidstuff Employee Survey was designed with questions …
Application Of Situational Leadership Theory To Gender-Based Pay Inequality, Joseph N. Maro
Application Of Situational Leadership Theory To Gender-Based Pay Inequality, Joseph N. Maro
Theses and Graduate Projects
Women have made significant progress eliminating the equality gap with men in many areas. The one area with a persistent gap is pay. The gender wage ratio is about 81.2%. The median weekly earnings for women is about $669, compared with $824 per week for men (Hegewisch, Williams, & Henderson, 2011). The gender wage gap has an impact on women, families, and employers. It is important for leaders to understand some of the reasons for the wage gap and the impacts and be equipped to address them. The Situational Leadership theory is one tool that is available to leaders to …
Leadership In Voluntourism, Heidi Jolivette Satre
Leadership In Voluntourism, Heidi Jolivette Satre
Theses and Graduate Projects
This paper explores the opportunities for leadership development in the evolving field of VolunTourism. VolunTourism, a relatively new term within the tourism industry used to describe travelers paying to take a trip in which they spend their time volunteering, has been growing in populariry without any universally established guidelines or a program model for leaders to follow. Currently, there is a lack of research regarding the sustainability of projects and the impact of leadership sfyles on the success of VolunTourism programs. This paper also explores the opportunities for leadership development within the evolving field of VolunTourism, based on the experiences …
Perceived Needs: Small Nonprofit Boards And Leadership Development Efforts, Luisa K. Gerasimo
Perceived Needs: Small Nonprofit Boards And Leadership Development Efforts, Luisa K. Gerasimo
Theses and Graduate Projects
Nonprofits have become more important in recent decades: almost two million American charities provide important and diverse services. How they function under the leadership of nonprofit boards of directors has not been studied to the extent that corporate boards have. Some nonprofit boards do not offer new member training or an orientation to board service, which may leave some board members underprepared to lead. Do nonprofit boards that get training improve themselves and the functioning of their associated nonprofit agency? Using a review of academic literafure, personal experience working for nonprofits and serving on nonprofit boards, interviews with a board …
Learning From Leadership Students' Experiences: An Evaluation Of The Mal Program, Mariana Gallo Llorente
Learning From Leadership Students' Experiences: An Evaluation Of The Mal Program, Mariana Gallo Llorente
Theses and Graduate Projects
The current independent project was developed to strengthen the Master of Arts in Leadership and build on its effectiveness. A program evaluation was conducted utilizing the perspectives and experiences of current leadership students. To accomplish this, a focus group was intentionally designed to gain insights into how students perceived the program. The resulting dialogue provided an opportunity for students to discuss issues that mattered to them, as well as, identify challenges and opportunities for improvement. The analysis concludes with a set of recommendations, including a template for periodic program review.
Strategies To Enable Young Adults To Be Financially Literate, Stephanie Ruckel
Strategies To Enable Young Adults To Be Financially Literate, Stephanie Ruckel
Theses and Graduate Projects
The purpose of this research is to identify factors that parent(s) both intentionally and unintentionally impart on their children that enable young adults to be more financially literate. I administered a three question financial literacy test to 344 students at a private, not-for-profit liberal arts institution in a Midwestern city. Each result, a score of zero to three was compared to each student's socio-demographic characteristics, family characteristics, and parental education techniques to determine potential correlation and causation for financial literacy scores. I determined factors to be studied through relevant literature and personal experience.
Employee Satisfaction And Employee Productivity: Finding The Link, Diane Slyman
Employee Satisfaction And Employee Productivity: Finding The Link, Diane Slyman
Theses and Graduate Projects
In this era of economic challenges corporate leadership struggles to do more with less, while maintaining the delicate balance between employee productivity and employee satisfaction. The focus of this research paper is to determine the degree to which employee job satisfaction truly impacts employee productivity. Can it really be as simple as to increase employee satisfaction in order to get them to produce more? The study further examines satisfaction and proiductivity measurements for a department within a healthcare administration department. While a limited sample size, the department's survey results are compared to the literature review relative to top satisfaction drivers …
Best Practices For Loinc Mapping And Maintenance, Tawni M. Reller
Best Practices For Loinc Mapping And Maintenance, Tawni M. Reller
Theses and Graduate Projects
The purpose of this action research project was to assess the current clinical laboratory industry perception of Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) and if best practices exist for the mapping and maintenance of them. A literature review was conducted, beginning with the creation of the LOINC nomenclature in 1994 through the current studies detailing recommended best practices and standards that are necessary to ensure success of clinical laboratory result interoperability. An original, qualitative survey was created emailed to 7,303 Iaboratorians, of whom 206 responded. The results of the survey reinforce the researcher's perception of the implementation and maintenance …
Communication Satisfaction And Part-Time Employees In A Park And Recreation Organization, Debra Lynn Derosa
Communication Satisfaction And Part-Time Employees In A Park And Recreation Organization, Debra Lynn Derosa
Theses and Graduate Projects
The purpose of this study was to investigate levels of communication satisfaction depending on work status (whether employees work on a full-time or part-time basis) in a single municipal park and recreation organization. Part-time and full-time employees were surveyed using the Down and Hazen's Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire, resulting in 40 usable responses. The results showed that both part-time and full-time employees surveyed had low levels of communication satisfaction in the researched organization. Part-time employees had slightly higher levels of communication satisfaction than the full-time employees in each of the eight communication dimensions researched. This study draws attention for organizational need …
Our Shared Table: The Emerging Future Of Food, Seed And Biodiversity, Marita Bujold
Our Shared Table: The Emerging Future Of Food, Seed And Biodiversity, Marita Bujold
Theses and Graduate Projects
Until recent decades, food was produced entirely by organic methods by farming communities who depended on adapting seeds within specific ecosystems and local ecological knowledge. This traditional approach to agriculture generated a wealth of vital genetically diverse seeds and plants. Since 1960, peasant communities have contributed 1.9 million varieties of plants to the world's seed banks. In today's food economy, one and half billion peasant farmers continue to rely on seed saving, local ecological knowledge and produce 70% of the world's food. The remaining thirty per cent of food produced by the agribusiness approach to farming that emerged in the …
Internship Program Development: Developing An Effective Internship Program For Faith Based Organizations, Kelly R. Black
Internship Program Development: Developing An Effective Internship Program For Faith Based Organizations, Kelly R. Black
Theses and Graduate Projects
This paper presents the process, methods, and findings of action research on lhe topic af internship program development within organizations. Organized and well-designed programs can improve a sludent's ability to integrate academic knowledge with practical applications, as well as improve career opportunities after graduation, while developing work place communication and problem solving skills. lnternship programs also offer non-profit organizations opportunities to develop future leaders while gaining extra support within the working environment. Information gathered from an online survey taken by past and present internship students, data from a staff focus group, along with responses from one-on-one interviews has provided important …
Relationship Between Leader Behavior And Subordinate Organizational Commitment In Higher Education Administrators, Christy L. Leduc
Relationship Between Leader Behavior And Subordinate Organizational Commitment In Higher Education Administrators, Christy L. Leduc
Theses and Graduate Projects
Organizational commitment (OC) is the psychological link betrveen employees and their organizations that reduces the likelihood that ernployees rvill voluntarily leave. OC is an important dimension of organization effectiveness; it has been shown to impact productivity, work performance. and rurnover. It is instructive to recognize how a leader's behavior impacts the overall stress and the organizational commitment of employees. Fifty-five administrators at a private college in the Midwest completed a 56-question electlonic survey to explore the relationship arnong leaders' behavioral scores for (1a) structure-initiation and (1b) consideration as assigned by their employees and the (2) self-reported organizational commitment levels of …