Communication Commons^™

Harnessing The Power Of Cliftonstrengths®: How Multinational Corporations Can Use Deep-Level Diversity To Enhance Organizational Inclusion, Trapper Kay Pace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research explicitly investigated how multinational corporations can enhance workplace inclusion through the novel use of the CliftonStrengths® assessment as a dimension of deep-level diversity. The study gleaned insights from employees’ perspectives, employing a constructivist grounded theory approach to explicate their experiences in rich qualitative narratives. Through open-ended surveys and intensive interviews, participants were selected using purposeful sampling to ensure meaningful data collection from the study organizations’ three global regions. The researcher conducted the analysis systematically through the constant comparison of data utilizing the NVivo14 software to assist in constructing codes, themes, and a theoretical schema. Results highlighted the significance …

Empowering Voices: Exploring The Career Trajectories Of Women Of Color Hr Professionals Amid Disruptive Change, Brandi R. Muñoz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated strategies to enhance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives in organizational leadership, focusing on supporting women of color in the workplace. The specific problem addressed was the underrepresentation and barriers faced by women of color in leadership positions despite their potential contributions to organizational success. The study employed a qualitative approach, combining qualitative interviews with socioeconomic data analysis. Data collection methods included semistructured interviews with women of color and a survey to gather demographic and employment information. The sample consisted of 16 women of color human resource professionals working in various industries and organizational settings across the …

Containerization Of Seafarers In The International Shipping Industry: Contemporary Seamanship, Maritime Social Infrastructures, And Mobility Politics Of Global Logistics, Liang Wu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation discusses the mobility politics of container shipping and argues that technological development, political-economic order, and social infrastructure co-produce one another. Containerization, the use of standardized containers to carry cargo across modes of transportation that is said to have revolutionized and globalized international trade since the late 1950s, has served to expand and extend the power of international coalitions of states and corporations to control the movements of commodities (shipments) and labor (seafarers). The advent and development of containerization was driven by a sociotechnical imaginary and international social contract of seamless shipping and cargo flows. In practice, this liberal, …

The Alumni Base Holds The Institution In Their Heart: Alumni Decision Making And Communication Strategies During University Leadership Change, Brandy Cox Jackson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the research was to understand how alumni executives make decisions and formulate communication strategies during university leadership change. The research was based on the trends found by the American Council on Education that the tenure of the college president has been on the decline since 2006 and is currently 5.9 years. Multiple factors have been identified in the literature that have led to this decline. The research focused on the largest constituency of most universities, its alumni base, and provides context and a description of decision making and communication strategies for alumni executives navigating leadership change. The …

Communicating For Success: The Importance Of Fairness In Pre-Merger Communication, Correy Retzloff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study explores the complexities and influences of pre-merger communication on M&A outcomes from a stakeholder perspective, using the Fair Process Theoretical Framework. The study identified the following six key themes related to pre-merger communication broken down into two distinct categories: important aspects to employees, which include Open and Honest Communication, Engagement and Clarity, Participation and Collaboration, and best practices managers can implement, such as Undertake Fair and Engaging Communication, Prioritize Strategic and Cultural Communication, Ensure Effective and Compliant Communication. The study also found that effective pre-merger communication can positively influence perceptions of fairness in the merging process. These …

Effective Leader Development Within A Church-Planting Organization For A Changing And Chaotic World, Jeremy Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A challenge in cross-cultural church planting is developing leaders. Cross-cultural church-planting organizations like Latin American Mission (LAM; pseudonym) that lack a leadership development strategy struggle to form lasting leaders, sending missionaries with Biblical training but not leader development training. Additionally, developing leaders in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment creates specific challenges that missionaries must address. The purpose of this qualitative, Delphi method study was to investigate the leadership development perceptions and experiences among existing LAM missionaries in the regions of Latin America (Colombia, Cuba, Mexico City, Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador) to provide suggestions for improving effective leadership …

Organizing (Eternal) Identity And Identification: An Upward Glance Into Religious Institutions, Casey M. Stratton

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This dissertation disrupts at least two religious spaces: First, scholars religiously adhering to (social) scientific norms, and second, people identifying with religious organizations (i.e., churches). First, we begin constructing a theoretical lens using poststructural ideas offered by Foucault, Derrida, and Bakhtin to read and disrupt (religious) discourse. Second, we complicate organizational identification as a concept, deeming it fixed and fluid—a paradox within religious discourses that endorse Truth and Perfection. Here, we draw from the communication constitutes organization (CCO) approach. Third, we further curate the lens by applying poststructuralism, identification, and CCO in a specific context: The Church of Jesus Christ …

Perceptions Of Organizational Politics And Interpersonal Relationships In Black Women's Organizations And Sororities, Mitzi S. Willis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although much research has addressed the relationships between leaders and followers, none has focused on these relationships between Black women—specifically, in the context of Black women’s social service organizations and sororities—and the impact the leader’s chosen style of leadership has on the followers’ use of voice. Self silencing is a prominent response to the power dynamic in many leader–follower relationships. The purpose of this study was to describe the interactions between leaders and followers in Black women’s social service organizations and sororities and identify the influence leadership style has on follower engagement. This study extends the application of silencing the …

Effects Of Pay Transparency On Application Intentions Through Fairness Perceptions And Organizational Attractiveness: Diversifying The Workforce By Effectively Recruiting Younger Women, Phi Phan-Armaneous

Industrial-Organizational Psychology Dissertations

In the wake of the Great Resignation, employers are desperate to recruit and attract employees (Fanning, 2021). Women employees tend to enhance organizational performance, and as younger employees make up a substantial portion of the workforce, organizations should position themselves to attract younger women employees (McKinsey & LeanIn, 2021; 2022). I suggest pay transparency (PT) as one strategy to attract and trigger application intentions through increased fairness. In the study, I conducted an experimental study on 301 women of ages 18 to 45 where one company promoted PT, and another did not promote PT to better understand applicant attitudes. Serial …

Help Or Hindrance: How Social Media Affects The Selection And Hiring Processes Of Businesses, Alexandra Krska

Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

Continually, young people have been advised to be conscientious of the imagery they put on social media regarding their personal lives in preparation for employment selection. However, the use of social media in the selection process may cause Human Resource professionals to have inadvertent biases toward candidates among other moral and ethical issues. Through extensive research of the thoughts and actions of a plethora of different corporate professionals, I will analyze whether using social media as a tool in the selection process authentically produces positive unbiased results, or whether social media poses more ethical issues. With the hopes to create …

How An Abusive Supervision Climate Impacts Business-To-Business (B2b) Sales Performance, And The Roles Of Leader–Members Interdependence And Team Psychological Safety, Matthew J. Daniel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sales supervisors can tremendously influence the sales teams they manage, and their behaviors can influence a team’s engagement and sales performance. Because of the supervisor’s influential role, their behavior, positive or negative, can ripple throughout the organization. As a result, a supervisor who role models abusive behavior within their organization also promotes a climate of abuse and incivility that can contribute to a toxic workplace. Abusive supervision (AS) is a significant problem in many business-to-business (B2B) sales organizations that negatively impacts the financial welfare and subjective well-being of organizations and their employees. This quantitative correlational study aimed to examine how …

Organizing Economies: Narrative Sensemaking And Communciative Resilience During Economic Disruption, Timothy Betts

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation unites organizational communication, and economic theory to understand how individuals make sense of economic crises, imbed power and logic in those understandings, and construct new economic realities in the aftermath of crisis. Contra economic orthodoxy, this project conceives of economy and economics as a social construct. As a social construct, individuals organize economy and economics through discourse, make sense of through narrative, and rebuild through communication. This dissertation combines different theoretical perspectives—actor-network theory, antenarrative organization theory, and the communication theory of resilience—to recenter social scientific accounts of economic reality around communication, story, and power.

Specifically, I focus on …

Inaccessible Interpolated Imagery: How Coffee Farmers In The State Of Chiapas Might Access Political Economic Opportunity Through Representation, Paolo Fiann Bicchieri

Master's Theses

Here is a useful parable to boil down the idea of this project and set the tone: when one goes to the bar to tell a story about a fight at the bar, they would never venture to place themselves as the hero of the brawl, taking out three drunkards in a single punch, unless they were really in the bar, at that time, fighting a good fight. One would never do this as the bartender, locals, and regulars would all know if this were the case or not. Yet transnational corporations, governments, and even consumers do this all the …

Digital Equity: Difficulties Of Implementing The 1:1 Computing Initiative In Low-Income Areas, Demetric D. Williams

Dissertations

Successful One-to-One Computing Initiative implementation requires educators to communicate and collaborate effectively with everyone in the learning community. However, other factors such as teacher’s professional development, student’s perception, and parent’s perception often affect the implementation of the One-to-One Computing Initiative. School districts, which serve low-income areas in Mississippi, have difficulties ensuring students and communities have access to the information technology they need to participate outside the school setting. The concept is often called digital equity. However, when officials do not address the capacity, there is a vital threat to the participants’ civic, cultural, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential …

The Great Resignation: A Content Analysis Of News Sources' Portrayals Of The Covid-19 Labor Shortage., Mackenzie Williams

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

When workers left the labor market in large numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic, proclamations of a labor shortage emerged extensively throughout the news. In this study, I analyze the coverage of the worker shortage among three news sources with different political orientations. Several themes emerged from analyzing a total of 75 articles. The findings showed that the perspective shown in the article, the cause of the labor shortage, restaurant worker portrayal, support of solutions, and opinion of the labor shortage all differed based on the political identity of the news source. This research supports previous findings that show there is …

The Impact Of Disruptive Physician Behavior On Support Staff And Patients: A Quantitative Secondary Analysis, Michael C. Marino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this quantitative secondary analysis, the purpose was to examine the nature of disruptive physician behavior (DPB) from the support staff and patient perspectives. Healthcare staffing shortages existed prior to the global pandemic and have increased, creating importance for employee retention and recruitment. I wanted to understand the impact of physician behavior on staff turnover rates in a private oncology practice, its effect on patient satisfaction rates, and to compare these rates of physicians that display DPB with physicians that do not display this behavior in a private hematology oncology community outpatient setting in the Southwest United States. To answer …

Healing Racial Injustice With Mindfulness Research, Training, & Practice, Danielle "Danae" Laura

Mindfulness Studies Theses

This thesis offers a collection of authors and studies in support of improved research, training, and practice connecting mindfulness with racial justice through intergroup applications. The paper identifies barriers at work (e.g., colorblindness, spiritual bypass, white fragility, and implicit bias) in contemplative science, Western Buddhist communities, and secular mindfulness centers, which block the sizeable contributions possible in studying the intergroup application of mindfulness practice—specifically Lovingkindness Meditation, among others—when used as an intervention with anti-racist aims. Through secondary qualitative research, I reviewed six key works from Black authors on mindfulness and race, as well as six sample studies on the prosocial …

The Artist's Diary, Anamae Gilroy

Senior Projects Spring 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

Social Movement Splintering: An Examination Of Stockton Stands With Minneapolis And News Media Representation, Kevin Ozomaro

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The phenomenon surrounding news media’s power to alter group identity and group cohesion is something that rarely a point of focus in communication studies. In this study I worked with a local social movement group called Stockton Stands with Minneapolis. This group illustrated the importance of maintaining shared values. Utilizing relational Interviewing, SSWM members provided evidence showing the connection between news media and group success. News media has had a role in shaping group members’ understanding of SSWM and activism. SSWM has faced internal conflict as a result of negative news representation. SSWM is a relatively small and young (2 …

Communicating With Muted Groups: The Case Of Human Trafficking, Amy Matzke-Fawcett

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

The problem of human trafficking is global, affecting men and women, adults, and children, with exploitation of various forms including (but not limited to) sex work, hospitality and entertainment, labor, agriculture, soldiering, forced begging and organ removal. While it has been the focus of movies, news articles, documentaries, legislation and research, the discussion of the communication surrounding human trafficking is still in the formative stages. What is the messaging about human trafficking in legislation, both historically and in the present day, and how did news and popular media help to frame the discourse around trafficking in the United States? Using …

How Exemplary Industrial Production Managers Lead Successfully Through The Turbulence Of The Covid-19 Crisis, Wendi Fast

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to discover and describe behaviors that exemplary industrial production managers in organizations practice to lead their organizations through the turbulent times of COVID -19 using the leadership attributes of personal temperament, concern for the collective interest, resilience, and moral purpose.

Methodology: This qualitative study used a phenomenological research design. Data was collected from 10 interviews of industrial production managers and artifacts collected to discover and describe behaviors that industrial production managers in manufacturing organizations practice to lead their organizations through the turbulent times of the COVID-19 crisis.

Findings: The study revealed 27 …

How Exemplary Industrial Production Managers Lead Successfully Through The Turbulence Of The Covid-19 Crisis, Wendi Fast

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to discover and describe behaviors that exemplary industrial production managers in organizations practice to lead their organizations through the turbulent times of COVID -19 using the leadership attributes of personal temperament, concern for the collective interest, resilience, and moral purpose.

Methodology: This qualitative study used a phenomenological research design. Data was collected from 10 interviews of industrial production managers and artifacts collected to discover and describe behaviors that industrial production managers in manufacturing organizations practice to lead their organizations through the turbulent times of the COVID-19 crisis.

Findings: The study revealed 27 …

Exploring Academic Leadership In Higher Education Through The Lens Of Leader-To-Member Exchange (Lmx) Theory, Dequies A. Lanier

Theses and Dissertations

A phenomenological study focused on Exploring Academic Leadership in Higher Education Through The Lens of Leader-to-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory, Dequies A. Lanier, 2020: Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice. Keywords: communication, leadership development, higher education, leader-member exchange, organizational leadership This applied dissertation was designed to explore the communication between higher education leaders and faculty at the department level in the United States at a southeastern higher education institution. The study sought to explore (a) the communication relationship between leaders and followers; (b) commitment to the organization; and (c) suggested communication …

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 …

Student-Run Agencies: A Guideline For Agency Survival, Brooke Borgognoni

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to study 110 student-run agencies (including advertising, public relations, integrated/digital marketing, communications, and graphics and/or design) in the U.S. by analyzing how they currently operate, what practices exist in the agencies for learning, growth, and continuation and how leadership roles of students and advisors influence the agency. This project built upon past studies of student-run agencies and expanded on the topic using the evolutionary theory of a firm by analyzing factors that determine whether it appears that a student-run agency might dissolve or last. This was determined by measuring the faculty advisor involvement level, …

Followers’ Reactions To Leader Differentiation, Yuchuan Liu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Leaders generally differentiate their relationships with followers, for example, by providing some with more respect, trust, support, or information than others (Liden & Graen, 1980). However, the effects of such leader differentiation on followers remain inconclusive such that research suggests that leader differentiation may have negative, positive, or null effects on favorable employee work-related outcomes (for a recent review, see Martin et al., 2018). To better understand the effects of leader differentiation, utilizing leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, I considered three inherently connected properties in the leader differentiation process – LMX differentiation, LMX quality and LMX social comparison (Martin et al., …

Developing And Sustaining Organizational Systems That Honor The Dignity Needs Of Stakeholders, Robyn Short

Graduate Liberal Studies Theses and Dissertations

At the time of the study, organizations were missing opportunities for innovation and bottom-line growth by failing to align performance management systems with basic human needs and dignity needs. Employees were missing opportunities for accessing their potential, and were failing to thrive. Organizational leaders needed to understand the importance of integrating basic human needs and the essentials of dignity as attributes of organizational systems design in order to maximize employee engagement, attract and retain top talent, increase innovation, and optimize bottom-line growth.

This research explored the role of dignity in organizational systems design. A qualitative research approach, specifically case study …

Who Is Willing To Speak Up And Why? Examining Individual And Organizational Predictors Of Employee Voice Behavior In Higher Education Institutions, Jessie Socorro Arellano

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Employee voice behavior is central to the effectiveness, the development, and the adaptability of organizations to their environments. However, there is currently limited organizational research and knowledge on the factors that influence employee voice behaviors, especially in the context of higher education institutions. As such, the purpose of this study is to examine the predictors of employee voice behaviors in institutions of higher education. Specifically, this study examines the impact of key individual and organizational factors such as alumni status, organizational commitment, work motivation, communication climate, and organizational politics on employees' expression of promotive and prohibitive voice in higher education …

Feminism And Message Alignment Within Girl Scout Camps, Emily Susan Hinrichsen

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

There has been a recent move in the United States for individuals and organizations toactively empower girls and women, provide them with equal opportunities, and help them build confidence. One organization that has been pursuing these goals is Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA), and Girl Scout camp is a specific setting in which the organization communicates empowerment, leadership, and inclusion to its members. This study utilized a feminist lens to explore message alignment within GSUSA, focusing on Girl Scout campers and Girl Scout camp staff as two important stakeholders who receive messaging from the organization. The researcher evaluated the …

Getting Them In The Door: A Study Of Programming Within Boys & Girls Clubs Of Vermont, Hannah Macon

Capstone Collection

While it is clear that strong, evidence-based youth-centered programming has a significant impact within an organization, there are often challenges and barriers which can significantly impact these programs. To understand these barriers more fully, it is important to understand the context through which these programs are being operated in, and by analyzing the perceptions surrounding what makes a program successful or sustainable over time. The Boys and Girls Club of Brattleboro is a local non profit which strives to grow and increase its impact on the youth members of the community. The purpose of this research was to collect and …