Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

Silicon Valley Immersion Program, Austin Phillips

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper explores how learning immersion experiences can improve the cache of the student experience at The University of Akron. Then the planning and coordination of northeast Ohio's first university-led silicon valley learning immersion trip, Zips in the Valley, are detailed.

How Does Customer Service Offshoring Impact Customer Satisfaction?, Jonathan W. Whitaker, M. S. Krishnan, Claes Fornell, Forrest Morgeson

Management Faculty Publications

Information technology (IT) plays a vital role in customer relationship management (CRM), because CRM processes include the collection and analysis of customer information, firms use technology tools to interact with customers, and IT created the conditions under which firms can offshore CRM processes. Customers have negative perceptions toward offshoring, which suggests that firms might be reluctant to offshore IT-enabled CRM processes. However, firms have significantly increased offshoring for CRM processes, presenting a conundrum. Why would firms increase offshoring for CRM processes if there could be a risk to customer satisfaction?

This paper helps to resolve the conundrum by studying the …

Chronic Disease Management: How It And Analytics Create Healthcare Value Through The Temporal Displacement Of Care, Steven M. Thompson, Jonathan W. Whitaker, Rajiv Kohli, Craig Jones

Management Faculty Publications

The treatment of chronic diseases consumes 86% of U.S. healthcare costs. While healthcare organizations have traditionally focused on treating the complications of chronic diseases, advances in information technology (IT) and analytics can help clinicians and patients manage and slow the progression of chronic diseases to result in higher quality of life for patients and lower healthcare costs.

We build on prior research to introduce the notion of temporal displacement of care (TDC), in which IT and analytics create healthcare value by displacing the time at which providers and patients make interventions to improve healthcare outcomes and reduce costs. We propose …

Diversity In Higher Education, Julissa Del Rio

Whittier Scholars Program

The purpose of this literature review is to understand and analyze how private colleges demonstrate an implement diversity within their campuses. The topics within this senior project include understanding the reasons and struggles of implementing diversity,  understanding how diversity is defined within these institutions, analyzing the benefits has on its students and faculty, examining the actual commitments institutions are placing to implement and to advocate for diversity, and finally conducting analysis that will follow an understanding how private and liberal arts are incorporating diversity. In this literature review, nine different private liberal arts colleges from three different regions were chooses …

Double-Edged Experiences And Their Impact On The Twenty-First-Century Audience: The Ever-Evolving Museum, Ana Sanz Menchero

MA Theses

The twenty-first-century museum is an ever-changing art institution adapting itself to engage a broader audience. The democratization of the museum becomes the priority to make art accessible to everyone. In the quest to find the perfect strategy, museums commit themselves to a constant transformation that seeks to create a unique “business model.” Along this process, institutions provide two-folded experiences to the public; first, the exhibition of art as a spectacular experience, and second, the staging of the museum as an entertaining entity. Today, museum attendance is not necessarily related to the quality of the show anymore. Welcome to the era …

Private Art Museum Backed By Hong Kong Invetment - Wan Fung Art Musem As An Example, Yiye Chen

MA Theses

The rapid development of private art museums in the world can be regarded as the epitome of global economic development. The Chinese government has given unprecedented support to the development of culture and art. As the world's second largest economy, China's middle class has been increasing year by year. The hot art market has attracted European and American auction giants, and famous galleries have entered the Chinese market. Since the birth of the first private art museum in China at the end of the 20th century, Chinese scholars have been constantly exploring the direction of development. From copying the European …

Story Of Twin Cities, Who Will Be The Next Storm Center Of Art Fairs?, Rui Bian

MA Theses

Since 2000, with the rapid development of China's economy, the evolution of contemporary art fairs in China has been accelerated. This paper takes two representative cities, Beijing and Shanghai, as examples. In the past one decade, Shanghai and Beijing have respectively led the trend of contemporary art market due to various internal and external factors. This paper uses PEST model to analyze, trying to find out who will be the next center of contemporary art in the next ten years.

The first part of this paper mainly starts from the differentiations in policies and regional distributions of Chinese contemporary art …

The Role Of Upward Influence In Organizational Politics: A Discussion On The Effectiveness Of Single And Combined Influence Tactics In An Upward Direction, Sophia Russell

Scripps Senior Theses

As part of organizational politics, influence allows employees to impact the attitudes and behaviors of peers, supervisors, and subordinates. Even though there are a variety of influence tactics, this thesis examines the few tactics used individually and in combination in an upward direction. This thesis adds to upward influence literature by discussing not only effective upward tactics, but also strategies found in unsuccessful attempts, providing insights for employees. The individual influence tactics discussed to be most successful are rational persuasion, consultation, and ingratiation, while exchange tactics are likely to lead to a failed influence attempt. The combined influence tactics found …

Sustainable Wealth Creation: Applying Instrumental Stakeholder Theory To The Improvement Of Social Welfare, Thomas M. Jones, Jeffrey S. Harrison

Management Faculty Publications

This chapter briefly reviews core ideas and research results in the existing instrumental stakeholder theory (IST) literature and then applies the IST concept to the simultaneous pursuit of two objectives—advancing social welfare, the presumed goal of morally legitimate social systems in general, and preserving the key elements of shareholder wealth enhancement—the traditional goal of the corporation. In so doing, we expand the range of ethical approaches to IST beyond deontological principles (e.g., treat stakeholders fairly; be trustworthy in dealing with stakeholders) present in extant versions of IST, to a consequentialist focus (i.e., a utilitarian concern for “the greatest good for …

Social Justice, Numeracy, And Teaching Statistics At A Community College, Edward Volchok

Numeracy

The author of this article reflects on the issues of justice, democracy, and numeracy. As one who has taught statistics in a community college for over 12 years, spent 28 years as a Marketing Consultant, and holds a PhD in political science, the author’s thesis is that while an advanced, democratic society can only be just with a numerate citizenry, fostering numeracy is not easy. In this article the author describes the daunting tasks of trying to define what justice is and reviews activities from his statistics class that help students develop their numeracy.

Strategies For Implementing Workplace Violence Prevention Policies In Small Businesses, Anthony Fleming

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Workplace violence can produce adverse financial outcomes for organizational shareholders, harms employees, and might create long-lasting mental health issues for survivors. Leaders of small businesses might lack the tools available to larger organizations to effectively address the growing incidence of violence in the workplace. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies some leaders of small businesses used to prevent workplace violence. The targeted population consisted of 3 leaders of small businesses from 3 different organizations in the government consulting industry in northern Virginia who successfully implemented workplace violence prevention programs. The general systems theory was the …

Employee Perceptions Of Fairness In Performance Appraisals And Job Satisfaction, Simon-Davies Amenyenu Nutakor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Business and management researchers have shown that performance appraisals have continued to remain a standard component of the human resource management (HRM) function and play an integral role in contributing to employee performance and job satisfaction levels. Recent researchers indicated that employees have continued to hold negative views about the degree of fairness and accuracy of appraisals, thus rendering the process a mere routine and periodic ritual detrimental to organizational efficiency and growth. The purpose of this study was to add to what is a paucity of data on perceptions of fairness of employees and examine the employee perceptions of …

Strategies To Reduce Employee Turnover In Clinical Logistics, Brenda Marc Simon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Clinical supply chain managers who do not apply effective employee turnover strategies could negatively affect team performance, employee morale, employee well-being, patient outcomes, productivity, profitability, and the sustainability of organizational activities. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that supply chain managers used to decrease employee turnover in clinical logistics organizations. The targeted population consisted of 6 clinical logistics supply chain managers working in 6 community hospitals located in Maryland who had experience implementing successful strategies to decrease employee turnover. The servant leadership theory served as the study's framework. Data collection included semistructured interviews and a …

Decreasing Voluntary Employee Turnover In The Hospitality Industry, Andrew Anderson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the strategies general managers of full-service hotels used to reduce voluntary frontline employee turnover. The conceptual framework for this study was Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory. The 3 participants were hotel general managers in the midwestern region of the United States. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 3 purposefully selected hotel general managers and by reviewing company documents. Data analysis consisted of gathering the data, coding for emergent themes, compiling the data into common codes, organizing the data into themes, interpreting the meaning, and reporting the themes. Four themes emerged …

Workplace Toxicity, Leadership Behaviors, And Leadership Strategies, Titin S. Atmadja

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Workplace toxicity may negatively influence the well-being and work performance of employees. Best practices of successful leadership approaches and behaviors have been unidentified when addressing low-toxicity work environments. The purpose of this qualitative narrative case study was to develop a deeper understanding of how leaders selected and applied specific leadership strategies and behaviors in nontoxic workplace environments. Data were collected from 10 participants in New Hampshire using a purposive sampling technique and semistructured interviews based on Alvarado's triangular model of workplace toxicity. This study was structured using a narrative approach to explore ways positive leaders practically implemented styles and behaviors …

Exploring Sustainable Capital Acquisition Strategies Of Small Businesses, Naieche Brooks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business owners encounter various difficulties in funding businesses. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies that some small business owners used to acquire capital to sustain their businesses longer than the first 5 years of operation. The resource-based theory was the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with a sample of 3 owners of small businesses in a metropolitan area in the southeastern United States and review of company profit statements. Five themes emerged from data triangulation and analyses: start-up capital access, private lender networking, motivation, self-realization, and external perceptions. …

Management Of Virtual Offices, Cheryl Donaldson Howard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many organizational leaders manage virtual employees without the specific training and experience required for leading a virtual organization, which can lead to billions of dollars in lost productivity. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies managers used to manage a virtual office. The target population consisted of 4 managers located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States who had a minimum of 2 years of experience managing virtual offices. The conceptual framework for this study was social exchange theory. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and a review of company documents. Data were analyzed using …

Enhancing The Competitive Advantage Of U.S. Corporations By Incorporating A Foreign Trade Zones Strategy, Dino Adolfo Scott

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some leaders of U.S. companies fail to implement proper decision-making strategies to enact and execute strategies to realize the benefits provided by a foreign trade zone (FTZ). The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore and to identify the proper decision-making strategies used in successfully implementing a FTZ. The target population consisted of 5 leaders, including a senior leader, a supply chain manager, and 3 department managers of a company located in the midwestern region of the United States that successfully implemented a FTZ. Porter's competitive advantage theory was the conceptual framework used for the study. Semistructured interviews …

Strategies Small Business Owners Use To Remain Sustainable, Desire Luamba

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, 41% of small retail businesses fail to succeed for longer than 5 years. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies small retail business owners used to remain sustainable for more than 5 years. The conceptual framework that grounded this study was Schumpeter's innovation theory. The sample size of this research included 4 successful retail business owners located in the southeastern region of the United States who have successfully started and managed their business activities for more than 5 years. Data were collected using semistructured face-to-face interviews with successful owners of small retail …

Sustainability Strategies Of Barber Salons, Kouassi Gilles Mevo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many barber salons and other small businesses in the United States fail to succeed beyond the first 5 years. The factors responsible for the low survival rate of salons may include the limited training and education levels mandated by state certification requirements. The purpose of this multiple case study was to identify business strategies successful barber salon owners use to overcome the business management and staffing challenges associated with a small pool of skilled barbers and the high turnover in a low wage profession. The theory of transformational leadership served as the conceptual framework. The data collection included interviews of …