Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons^™

Multitasking And Communication In The Organization, Cayla A. Stephenson

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Because communication is an intricate part of how an organization works, and because organizations and employees alike are stressing the importance of multitasking on the job, studying the interaction of communication and multitasking is increasingly important. Studies relating to multitasking have revealed primarily negative impacts: doubling task completion time, overstimulating our brains to the point of dysfunction, generally diminishing our productivity, and extinguishing our stimuli filters and damaging our memories. Other studies show that we can use multitasking in a positive way by utilizing task trainings and practicing focused task completion. The study here completed two focus groups with 12 …

Sororities, Interpersonal Relationships, And A Dialogical Perspective, Jessica Lynn Fresques

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This study focuses on interpersonal relationships and skills gained through sorority membership. The purpose of this research sought to develop the understanding of potential developmental outcomes, in which a sorority can provide to its members. Research methods used: online surveys and follow-up interviews. The dialogical perspective by Martin Buber helped develop an understanding of the I-thou relationship, whereas, each person within conversation is fully valued for what they have to say. In general, sororities are known as social organizations and the use of dialogue is important when communing or working with others. Alumnae who participated provided enough feedback to determine …

Servant-Leadership And Re-Establishment Of Organization Culture After Crisis, Reese Dayle Cooper

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Organizations create a base for culture through the language in mission, vision, and value statements (Deetz, 1995). Organization culture is then shaped and molded by organization members (Deetz, 1995). As a result, members form organization identities (Mead, 1934). Identities are fluid and constantly being negotiated (Stewart, Zediker, & Witteborn, 2009, p. 82). At any moment, organizations can face crisis. During the crisis, identities are threatened and organization culture becomes unstable (Beer & Steif, 1997; Sen, 2006). Stabilizing organization culture is important to the long-term success of an organization and to the long-term success of individuals. This study uses a case …

The Intrapersonal Phenomenon: The Interactional Effects Of Intrapersonal Adjustments In The Organizational Change Of A Small Business, Jennifer Wilkes

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

It is inevitable that change involves varying levels of communication. A relationship may consist of an individual's communication with one's self or with one or more persons. The functionality of a relationship depends on the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the communication of those individuals involved. When change is necessary in any form of organization, the level of communication for each member plays a vital role, especially in a small company. Based on literature and theory, intrapersonal development and influence relies on the structure of one's cultural language. Language structure shapes one's inner speech and self-talk through processes of internalization. The …

Getting Thrown Under The Bus: The Impact Of Destructive Narcissistic Management On Group Sensemaking, Russell Allen Royston

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Despite the vast research and scholarship on leaders with narcissistic traits and tendencies, little research has focused on the impact these leaders have on group communication. This thesis uses an ethnographic research methodology to explore a group under destructive narcissistic management. Karl Weick’s (1995) theory of organizational sensemaking is used to examine the affected group’s communication. The study was conducted from a phenomenological perspective of the group’s lived experience. Kierkegaard’s theory of communication is also applied to learn how the group made sense of was happening to them during a period of substantial change (Anderson, 1963). The results show that …

Knowledge Sharing And Knowledge Management System Avoidance: The Role Of Knowledge Type And The Social Network In Bypassing An Organizational Knowledge Management System, Susan A. Brown, Alan R. Dennis, Diana Burley, Priscilla Arling

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Knowledge sharing is a difficult task for most organizations, and there are many reasons for this. In this article, we propose that the nature of the knowledge shared and an individual's social network influence employees to find more value in person-to-person knowledge sharing, which could lead them to bypass the codified knowledge provided by a knowledge management system (KMS). We surveyed employees of a workman's compensation board in Canada and used social network analysis and hierarchical linear modeling to analyze the data. The results show that knowledge complexity and knowledge teachability increased the likelihood of finding value in person-to-person knowledge …

Workplace Gossip As A Way Of Coping With Occupational Stress, Urszula Kakar Maria

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between workplace gossip and occupation stress. Gossip has been recognized as a ubiquitous and influential, yet seriously under researched phenomenon in the workplace. It has been acknowledged that research on workplace gossip is of great value because it constitutes a big part of organizational communication, it serves important functions, and it has serious consequences for members and organization itself. The small number of studies may be in part explained by the lack of agreement among researchers on the definition of gossip.

The Impact Of Business Elite Cohesion On Public Policy Alternatives : A Comparative Examination Of Banking And Telecommunication Legislation In The 1930s And 1990s, Geoffrey Lee Wood

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

ABSTRACT

Critical Mass On Campus : An Analysis Of Race/Ethnicity And Organizational Outcomes, Renee Overdyke

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The United States is an increasingly diverse society. The recent Supreme Court hearings on Affirmative Action have reiterated the need to study the impacts of changing demographics on organizations. Race-based policymaking fundamentally rests on a "diversity is good for the organization" philosophy, yet there is relatively little research that directly measures the institutional effects of racial/ethnic diversity. Diversity within organizations, also known as structural diversity or organizational heterogeneity, is overdue for a broader range of scholarly attention. Building on an organizational demography framework, this study investigates whether or not there are relationships between diversity and outcomes at higher education institutions …

The Effect Of Work And Family Role Stressors On The Well-Being Of Public Sector Employees In South Korea : Three Comparative Perspectives Of Gender, Role Domain, And Employment Sector, Geunpil Ryu

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study aimed to address the main research question of how work and family role stressors effect employees' well-being. In particular, this study addressed four main research topics: (a) whether work and family role stressors are significantly associated with well-being indicators; (b) whether work and family role stressors are related differently to well-being for men and women; (c) whether work and family role stressors have cross-domain effects, and which domain has more predictive power to explain an individual's healthiness; and (d) whether any differences exist between private- and public-sector employees in the relationship between work and family role stressors and …

Emerging Capability Or Continuous Challenge? Relocating Knowledge Work And Managing Process Interfaces, Stephan Manning, Thomas Hutzschenreuter, Alexander Strathmann

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

This study examines interface management as a dynamic organizational capability supporting an increasing global distribution of knowledge work, based on an in-depth case of an automotive supplier. We show how local responses to experiences of task and interface ambiguity following the relocation of R&D processes may lead to a shift of organizational attention from ex-ante process design to continuous process and interface management. Findings suggest that flexible interface manager positions and partnership structures across locations facilitate local experimentation with effective transfer and handling of ambiguous and partially tacit tasks. This enhances the firm’s capacity to distribute an increasing variety of …

Partnerships Between Hospitals And Community: A Qualitative Study On Collaboration For Spiritual Care In Healthcare, Angela E. Schmidt

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Partnerships between Hospitals and Community: A Qualitative Study on Collaboration for Spiritual Care in Healthcare

Abstract:

Hospital-Community Collaborative (HCC) arrangements for the provision of spiritual care have been brokered in certain Ontario hospitals with varying degrees of success. The current study investigated how a community based organization could effectively partner with a healthcare institution to ensure spiritual care support for hospital patients. It asked the question: What factors are essential to make a hospital-community collaboration function well as a model for the provision of spiritual care? Qualitative research was conducted with four hospital corporations with HCC partnerships to ascertain the …

Changes In Auditing: A Three Part Investigation, Denise R. Hanes

2013

This dissertation consists of three studies investigating changes in auditing. This abstract summarizes each study, including purpose, methodology, and findings.

The first study synthesizes the extant literature examining geographically distributed work arrangements in other disciplines such as management and social psychology. Focusing on communication and coordination, knowledge sharing, work design, and social identity in geographically distributed teams, I identify opportunities for future research to expand our understanding of how geographically distributing audit work impacts auditors, the audit process, and audit quality.

My second paper explores a key contributor to the success of geographically distributed work highlighted in my literature review: …

Climatequal® And Thinklets: Using Climatequal® With Group Support Systems To Facilitate Discussion And Set Priorities For Organizational Change At Criss Library, Audrey Defrank, Nora Hillyer

Criss Library Faculty Publications

Objective – This article discusses a series of actions taken by the Criss Library at the University of Nebraska at Omaha to implement organizational change, using the ClimateQUAL® survey and facilitated discussions with ThinkTank™ group decision software. The library had experienced significant changes over a five-year period, with a renovation of the facility and three reorganizations resulting in a 50% staff turnover. Recognizing the strain that years of construction and personnel changes had placed on the organization, there was a desire to uncover the mood of the employees and reveal the issues behind low morale, uneasiness, and fear.

Methods – …

Social Networks, Individual Orientations, And Employee Innovation Outcomes: A Multi-Theoretical Perspective, Travis J. Grosser

Theses and Dissertations--Management

I examine individual innovation in organizations from a social network perspective. I employ two theoretical lenses to examine innovation outcomes in three separate empirical studies. First, I use a sociopolitical framework to examine how political skill and social network structure interact to predict successful innovation initiation and, ultimately, career success. I find that innovation initiation mediates the relationship between political skill and career success. Moreover, structural holes in employees’ social networks moderate the mediated relationship between political skill and career success such that the relationship is stronger for employees with many structural holes in their social network. Second, I use …

A Tale Of Two Envys: A Social Network Perspective On The Consequences Of Workplace Social Comparison, Christopher M. Sterling

Theses and Dissertations--Management

My dissertation examines how individuals respond to workplace social comparisons. I measure the explicit set of referent others that individuals compare themselves against in order to evaluate their own level of performance. I examine how the social context of these comparisons impact discretionary performance related behaviors by examining how an individual’s position within a social network and the structural characteristics of an individual’s reference group influences the experience of discrete emotions. Specifically, I examine how malicious envy and benign envy mediate the relationship between social comparison and workplace behavior in a field setting. Results indicate that social network structure plays …

An Exploration Of Determinants Of Organizational Commitment: Emphasis On The Relationship Between Organizational Democracy And Commitment, Boya Chen

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

In public organizations, organizational commitment plays a significant role in determining both efficiency and efficacy of the organization. Organizational commitment is just like an invisible hand affecting the performance of staff. The degree of organizational commitment can also be a double-edged sword, by which performance outcomes can either be promoted dramatically or impaired greatly. The purpose of the paper is to examine the determinants of organizational commitment, especially the relationship between organizational commitment and organizational democracy.

From the literature review, I build a model including several variables. The dependent variable in my model is organizational commitment. Independent variables in my …

Positive Workplace Dynamics: A Qualitative Exploration Of Exceptional Performance In Community College Units, R. Michael Stapleton

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

In this companion dissertation findings are reported of applied case study research on four community college organizational units that consistently meet or exceed standard performance measures. Ample prior evidence confirmed that performance extended significantly beyond what might be explained by available tangible resources alone. The case study contexts are common in higher education in general: a) an external partnership, (b) an ad hoc team, (c) a traditional, cross-divisional service unit, and (d) a grant-funded student service unit.

Emerging positive organizational theory and research shows promise for revealing performance-influencing phenomena and behaviors that are not adequately represented in standard measures. Therefore, …

Shared Leadership In Six Sigma Teams From The North Shore-Lij Health System, Brian J. Galli

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The main goal of the research was to identify the relationships that the internal research team environment and external coaching variables had with the degree of shared leadership in the context of Six Sigma teams from the North Shore LIJ Health System. Furthermore, the research ascertained the relationships that these variables had with two performance metrics: a team's ability to complete project deliverables and satisfy customer's requirements. This research also sought to understand additional factors that affected the five variables.

The research found that while shared leadership did not positively change as a team progressed through the phases of the …

A Narrative Approach To Delivering Bad News In Organizations: Effective Or Not?, Michael S. Carriger

WCBT Faculty Publications

Purpose: This paper presents empirical evidence for the use of narrative to deliver bad news within an organization, specifically bad news about layoffs. The attempt is to extend previous empirical work, using narrative by senior leadership to convey corporate strategy, to a different leadership challenge and further explicate a model for understanding the effectiveness of narrative as a leadership communication tool. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper presents further original research on the effectiveness of narrative as a leadership tool. And theoretical implications for leaders seeking effective communication tools are explored. Findings: Data presented to substantiate that narrative use, as opposed to a …