Training and Development Commons^™

Telework Washington - Intervention Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

The Washington Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF) Child Welfare Field Operations (CWYO) telework program was developed by reviewing policies, practices, experiences and research distilled from materials produced by numerous federal and state agencies (for example, www.telework.gov). (At the time of intervention development, the QIC-WD was unable to identify child welfare agencies with formal telework policies and protocols.) In addition, the experiences of approximately 30 Field Operations Intake workers who participated in a DCYF 2018 telework pilot also contributed to developing the telework program. Lastly, the project’s Implementation Team informed the feasibility of a telework program for DCYF …

Telework Washington - Final Summary, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

Designing a Telework Strategy to Improve Retention

Washington Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF) is a state-operated child welfare system. Child Welfare Field Operations is divided into six regions and employs approximately 2,200 people who are responsible for the direct service to children and families with active child welfare cases. In 2017, DCYF had an annual external turnover rate of about 26%. They applied to be a QIC-WD site with the goal of strengthening their child welfare workforce.

When DCYF started working with the Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD), an Implementation Team¬¬ was established to participate in …

Telework Washington - Site Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

The Washington Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF) is a cabinet-level agency focused on the well-being of children, with a vision that "Washington state’s children and youth grow up safe and healthy— thriving physically, emotionally and academically, nurtured by family and community." As a newly established state agency, DCYF oversees several services previously offered through the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and the Department of Early Learning (DEL). These include all programs from the Children’s Administration formerly in DSHS, such as Child Protective Services’ investigations and Family Assessment Response, licensed foster care, and adoption support. Also …

Assessing The Impact Of Human Resource Management (Hrm) Practices On Organizational Commitment: An Examination Of The Role Of Temporal Focus, Monty Clint Taylor

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study explores how organizational commitment is associated with employee satisfaction regarding the human resource management (HRM) practices of training/development and compensation. Drawing on Affective Events Theory (AET), this research also examines the role of past temporal focus as a moderating variable of the proposed relationships. During times of historically low unemployment rates below 4% in the United States (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024), organizations face major challenges in hiring and retaining employees to fill existing job vacancies (Conklin, 2022). Overall organizational stability (i.e., productivity and financial capabilities) is maintained when skilled employees are successfully recruited and trained as …

Improving Discharge Education Quality In Urgent Care Settings: A Quality Improvement Project, Brielle N. Patscheider

Master's Theses and Capstones

BACKGROUND:

Effective discharge education is vital for improving patient care by enhancing health outcomes and reducing hospital readmission. When patients receive thorough and personalized discharge instructions, they are better able to manage their health, follow treatment plans, and identify symptoms needing further attention. This not only boosts patient satisfaction and safety but also reduces the strain on healthcare systems by decreasing preventable readmissions.

LOCAL PROBLEM:

Urgent care facilities serve diverse populations with a range of common, non-emergency ailments. The rapid service and walk-in availability often lead to a high volume of patients with diverse and complex medical needs. To eliminate …

Garbage In ≠ Garbage Out: Exploring Gan Resilience To Image Training Set Degradations, Nicholas Crino, Bruce A. Cox, Nathan B. Gaw

Faculty Publications

Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have received immense attention in recent years due to their ability to capture complex, high-dimensional data distributions without the need for extensive labeling. Since their conception in 2014, a wide array of GAN variants have been proposed featuring alternative architectures, optimizers, and loss functions with the goal of improving performance and training stability. This manuscript focuses on quantifying the resilience of a GAN architecture to specific modes of image degradation. We conduct systematic experimentation to empirically determine the effects of 10 fundamental image degradation modes, applied to the training image dataset, on the Fréchet inception distance …

Motivation, Learning, And The Workplace: A Study Of Community College Student Affairs Professionals And Continued Professional Learning, Joseph M. Ginese

Theses and Dissertations

Continued professional learning is a consistent focus of attention for the field of student affairs within higher education. Yet, very little research has been conducted on the factors that influence the motivation of student affairs professionals to pursue continued professional learning, especially professionals within community colleges. This study utilized a quantitative research design to examine the physical and psychological factors of the work environment that can influence a community college student affairs professional’s motivation to pursue continued professional learning. Through the theoretical lens of Lewin’s Field Theory and Eccles’ Expectancy-Value Theory, I designed a 58-item survey (N = 41) …

Impact Of Training On Employee Motivation And Performance In The Sports Industry, Alyssa Macur

Honors College Theses

This study explores the crucial relationship between employee training and its influence on motivation and performance within the sports industry, focusing on insights from Athletic Directors within the Pace University Athletic Department. Through three comprehensive, in-depth interviews with these key stakeholders, the study aims to discern the effects of targeted, effective training and clear goal setting on employee motivation and performance outcomes. The insights gathered from the Athletics Directors at Pace University reveal a strong correlation between well-designed, efficient training programs and heightened motivation. When training initiatives are aligned with clear objectives and goals, employees exhibit increased levels of enthusiasm, …

The Influence Of Leadership Communication On Employee Engagement During Transformational Change: A Case Study Of 123bank, Myrian Barron Garrett

Human Resource Development Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to understand employee perspectives on how leadership communication efforts impact employee engagement in an organization undergoing transformational change. Kotter’s change management model served as the framework and support for this study. One research question was developed to guide this study, and the qualitative case study approach was used. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 26 study participants. The researcher found that most participants had a negative perspective on their leader’s communication efforts during transformational change. Eight main categories were identified, with two to three coded themes each. The findings cannot be generalized to other organizations and …

Impact Of Organizational Culture And Leadership In Professional Environments, Eli Wolman

Capstone Showcase

This paper addresses the importance of a strong organizational culture and effective leadership in a professional working environment. Leadership has been shown to profoundly impact a professional working environment's performance, productivity, mental well-being, and goal attainment. Organizational Culture is the set of values and norms a group shares. As influential organizational culture proves to be effective, leadership may come in the form of several styles, including transformational leadership, directive leadership, or empowering leadership, which also play a pivotal role in the success of a group. Ultimately, even though this paper primarily prioritizes the implications of leadership and culture on professional …

An Accessible Life Sills Training Program: Mentoring An Individual's Internal And External Growth Simultaneously, Alana Hayes

Doctor of Leadership

Within Lubbock County there is not an accessible life skills training program that mentors an individual's internal (emotional) and external (financial) growth simultaneously. My focus is on mentoring at risk individuals with a hand up and not a hand out within my community. It is also applicable to individuals who want to help strengthen the lives of disadvantaged and/or at risk members in their community. It is most helpful to mentors as business owners, a manager, or a non-profit organization. However, it could also be useful to community members that would like to complete a long term service project. Ideally …

Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Talent Acquisition And Retention: A Mixed Methods Study Of Organizational Practices, Dawayne Mcintosh

Doctor of Education Dissertations

This study employed a convergent mixed methods approach to explore diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within Company A (pseudonym). It examined the effectiveness of DEI practices in recruitment and retention, leadership attitudes towards DEI, and overall commitment to fostering an inclusive environment. The conducted survey involved a combination of a Likert scale survey and a few open-ended questions from a pool of participants across the organization. The quantitative data highlighted trends and patterns in DEI practices, while the qualitative data revealed nuanced insights into individual experiences and perceptions. The results provided insights into the DEI initiatives that are in place …

Meeting The Sustainability Challenges: An Assessment Of Entrepreneurial Education, Anna Zherdeva, Intesar Madi, Abrar Alzankawi, Lucia Morales Dr, L. Pop, A. Soler-Dominguez, J.C. Saez

Conference papers

The importance of sustainability and entrepreneurship education is highlighted in this study. The world economies are facing significant challenges as they try to enable the transition towards more sustainable economic and business models. Therefore, at the centre of the transition process, it is critical to consider the role that business education can play and, more specifically, the role of business schools in integrating and supporting the development of skills and competencies that align with our contemporary society's needs. In this paper, we initially assess the need to connect entrepreneurial and sustainability education by exploring the educational offerings at Technological University …

Two Essays To Encourage Agritourism Cluster Development In The Appalachian Region: An Analysis Of Agritourism Operation Regarding Clustering And Toolkit Curriculum For Cluster Development, Oluwatoyin Adebisi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study focused on encouraging agritourism operators in the study area to engage in clustering. Collaboration within networks and clusters is strongly encouraged as a catalyst for accelerating industrial transformation, developing regional competitive advantages, and boosting company and job creation. All these factors ultimately contribute to economic progress and prosperity. A snowball sampling method was used to survey 192 agritourism operators, with 145 responses meeting the inclusion criteria for analysis. Exploratory factor analysis was employed to identify factors contributing to agritourism business development in the selected six states. Based on a linear regression model, the findings reveal that net income …

Organizational Support And Its Impact On Mental Health In Humanitarian Aid Volunteers, Valeria Prudnikova

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Humanitarian aid volunteers encounter a wide range of stressors, from witnessing horrific events and human suffering to facing organizational challenges and threats to their personal safety. These experiences can have significant and lasting impacts on their mental and emotional well-being. Despite increasing awareness of the psychological toll on aid volunteers, research on effective coping mechanisms and organizational support remains limited, while efforts by organizations that have begun implementing mental health training remain insufficient in providing the comprehensive, long-term support needed to mitigate these effects. This article aims to address the gap by reviewing existing literature on the psychological and emotional …

Understanding Neurodiversity And Executive Disfunction To Discover More Effective Accommodations And Create A More Inclusive Workforce For Neurodivergent Individuals, Carley Dahlstrom

Honors Theses and Capstones

The goal of this paper is twofold. One: understand executive disfunction to gain a broader understanding of neurodiversity and the challenges those with neurodiversity face in the workforce. And two: research different accommodations to combat executive disfunction and evaluate their effectiveness. To accomplish these goals, an extensive literature review was conducted to understand neurodiversity, executive disfunction, government requirements relating to accommodations, and an exploration of current accommodations available. Additionally, research was conducted in the form of interviews and a survey to expand and add to the overall understanding of this research area.

Results of the survey indicate an overall lack …

Hiring Practices In Black Nonprofit Organizations: Servant Leadership And The Employee Experience, Whitley Dozier

Doctor of Education Dissertations

This dissertation examined the impact of servant leadership within a Black nonprofit organization facing hiring challenges, particularly during organizational growth. The study explored how the leadership style of an executive leader influences employee experiences at a Black nonprofit organization. Using a mixed methods approach, quantitative and qualitative data were collected to assess employee perceptions of servant leadership and its effects on various aspects of their employment journey, including hiring, onboarding, professional learning, personal development, and opportunities for career advancement. By investigating these dynamics, the study sought to contribute to a deeper understanding of how servant leadership and robust human resource …

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Using An Industry-Aligned Capabilities Framework To Effectively Assess Student Performance In Non-Accredited Work-Integrated Learning Contexts, Denise Jackson, Linda Riebe, Stephanie Meek, Madeleine Ogilvie, Alf Kuilboer, Laurie Murphy, Nathalie Collins, Karina Lynch, Mandy Brock

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This study recognises how Industry 4.0 is influencing labour market demands of graduating students and how ongoing discord between employers and educators regarding their preparation is driving work-integrated learning across the sector. Stakeholder involvement in capability development requires expected performance standards to benchmark students for learning and assessment purposes, especially in non-accredited contexts which lack defined standards of competency. Industry stakeholders were engaged to review, validate and extend an established capabilities framework to reflect mega-trends posed by contemporary work and to define dimensions of standardised assessment for the purpose of work-integrated learning. Findings highlighted the need for graduates that are …

Ebci Summary, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development (Qic-Wd)

Intervention Summaries

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) is a federally-recognized tribe. The Family Safety Program (FSP) is the child welfare program that serves the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, under the tribal Division of Public Health and Human Services. FSP was established in 2015 with around 10 staff members and has grown to about 60 staff, all located in one office in Cherokee, North Carolina. Since FSP was a relatively new agency when they began working with the Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD), turnover had not been a signficant problem, however, vacancies were a challenge. In October 2017, …