Digital Commons Network^™

The Fifth Epoch: Socio-Economic Approach To Sustainable Capitalism, David M. Boje, Yue Cai Hillon

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

The purpose of this conceptual essay is to challenge the inevitability of living with the destructive beast of speculative market economics in the 4^th epoch of global capitalism. We are facing an existential socio-ecological threat from the short-term excesses of financial capitalism, a socially irresponsible form that consumes without producing value and without bearing entrepreneurial risk, benefitting only the few. The fate of roughly 90% of humanity hangs in the balance. The primary contribution of this paper proposes a 5^th epoch of capitalism, inspired by Savall and Zardet’s socio-economic and sustainable approach that restores human potential and value …

Organizational Factors Associated With Quality Perinatal Care, Lisa H. Akers

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Provisions for perinatal care are an integral part of quality healthcare and are increasingly moving to the forefront of quality care measures in the healthcare setting (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2012; National Quality Forum, 2012; & The Joint Commission, 2010). Previous literature specifically focused attention to general quality of care, but recently there has been a call for a more comprehensive approach to measuring quality in the perinatal care setting, which necessitates the need for a better understanding of what is currently being offered (Collins & Draycott, 2015). Until now the literature has remained limited on the association …

Practical Steps For The Utilization Of Action Research In Your Organization: A Qualitative Approach For Non-Academic Research, Paul J. Antonellis Jr., Gwendolyn Berry

Management Faculty Publications

Action research is different from traditional research. Action research is more practice based as it is implementing an intervention to improve a problem. Action research involves collaboration and communication between the researcher and the participants within the study. The purpose of this article is to explain the multi-step process for a non-academic researcher or novice researcher when employing qualitative action research in an organization that is looking to solve a complex issue. The article will explore the action research steps for conducting phone employment interviews within the organization and an example of the process to follow. The outlined steps can …

Umass Memorial Healthcare Information System Job Ladder, Matthew Simoncini, Vamsi Kavuru, Antariksh Nanda, Tahaseen Mahaboob Basha, Vikram Patil

School of Professional Studies

The capstone project report emphasizes the importance of a job ladder and the need of an hour to implement it at UMASS Memorial health care. The scope of this project is to create a well-established job ladder at UMASS with pre-defined standards on job levels related to Information Technology department that would facilitate in hiring, developing and promoting employees at various stages.

To Be Or Not To Be An Ethnic Firm: An Analysis Of Identity Strategies In Immigrant-Owned Organizations, Diya Das, Eileen Kwesiga, Shruti R. Sardeshmukh, Norma Juma

New England Journal of Entrepreneurship

In this article, we develop a theoretical framework that draws on the concepts of liability of foreignness and social identity theory in the context of immigrant entrepreneurship.

Technology Increases Efficiency In The Workplace, But Often Creates Chaos In The Process, Kathleen Merz Prester

Information Systems & Operations Management Theses - Archive

There is a multitude of technology solutions used in the typical workplace, aimed at increasing efficiency, but often chaos is created in the process. Can this chaos be reduced or eliminated? This paper seeks to answer that question. Specific technologies used in workplace environments and how they are implemented, including deployment, project management, and end-user involvement are dissected for a common thread. Underestimating the importance of communication is the common thread identified when chaos follows the implementation of new technology. The end-user requires constant communication before, during, and after the implementation process, whether the news is good or bad. Without …

The Impact Of Leadership Style On Middle Managers’ Motivation: A Study Of The Ministry Of Civil Aviation In Egypt., Safaa Shaaban

Business Administration

This paper examines the relationship between leadership styles, used by top management, to motivate middle management managers, which drives them in accomplishing their organisational goals. Leadership use two techniques to motivate employee that are extrinsic and intrinsic (Self-determination Theory (SDT)) in Civil Aviation Ministry in Egypt. The objective of this study is to search which leadership style is currently used, from the perspective of middle management, as subordinates for top management and which leadership style motivated managers, extrinsically and intrinsically. A survey-based descriptive research design was used. The study was conducted using middle managers working in the Civil Aviation Ministry …

Leader Behaviors For Sustaining The Implementation Of Lean Methodologies In Multi-National Companies: A Qualitative Case Study, Gary Vance

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Increasing global competition has led many business leaders to implement Lean methodologies to drive operational improvement and deliver increased customer satisfaction. However, not all business leaders have been successful in sustaining Lean implementation with the majority failing within the first three years. In addition, the challenge related to implementing Lean in multi-national companies is exacerbated by the cultural differences associated with the various business units involved. Recent research has suggested that business leaders who have sustained their Lean implementations have utilized specific behaviors to do so. Therefore, this study explored how leaders of multi-national companies utilized specific behaviors to sustain …

Leadership And Performance In Various Group Dynamics, Jonathan Fedczuk

Business/Business Administration

This thesis will begin by providing a summary of the differences between flat and tall organizations. The bulk of the research will aim to explore leadership styles and demands that are effective in flatter organizations. More specifically, it will examine several aspects of autocratic and participative leadership in relation to managerial success. It will also assess certain need satisfactions of managers in flat organizations and the extent to which they have achieved success. The second portion of this thesis is intended to explore whether structural differences influence performance. A number of laboratory studies are evaluated to measure performance in tall …

Religious Commitment, Job Satisfaction, And Social Acceptability Among Religious Groups, Kathryn E. Dozier

Honors Theses

This study seeks to develop a better understanding of the relationships between religious commitment, social support, and job satisfaction. This research specifically investigated the correlations between religious commitment and social support, religious commitment and job satisfaction, and social support and job satisfaction. After surveying undergraduate students from a southern university, there was no statistical evidence supporting the idea that the indicated combinations contributed to job satisfaction. The research did demonstrate, however, a correlation between religious commitment and social support. In addition, groups were tested for significant differences in levels of religious commitment, social support, and job satisfaction; the groups based …

Women In Leadership: A Comparative Case Study On Successful Leadership, Christine Newcomb

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this report is to understand what makes a successful female leader. Since there are so few women in executive level positions, especially chief executive officer positions, I became interested in analyzing how successful leaders act in contrast with how unsuccessful leaders act. To analyze, I will focus on the leadership of two prominent businesswomen, one who has been successful in their tenure, and one who has been unsuccessful. Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, Inc. has been successful throughout her tenure, while Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo has been unsuccessful in turning the company around. I will …

The Disclosure Of Organizational Secrets By Employees, Danny Franklin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Organizational secrets enable firms to protect their unique stocks of knowledge, reduce the imitability of their capabilities and achieve sustained competitive advantages (Hannah, 2005). In today’s business environments, the loss of valuable proprietary organizational knowledge due to intentional employee disclosure represents a substantial threat to firm competitiveness. Anecdotal evidence suggests that firms in the United States lose more than $250 billion of intellectual property every year, with intentional employee disclosure accounting for a significant portion of these losses (Dandliker, 2012; Heffernan & Swartwood, 1993). Thus, understanding factors that influence such intentional secret disclosure is a key concern, especially in knowledge-intensive …

The Role Of Human Resources In Organizational Restructuring: Perceptions Of Hrdepartment, Line Managers, And Employees, Mohamed Abdulla Mohamed Al Hammadi

Dissertations

The process of organizational restructuring is an integral and common aspect that has been integrated into the growth and development of organizations all around the globe. It is mainly undertaken to ensure that organizations are up to date with ever-changing external and internal business environments to improve organizational effectiveness and efficiency. The government of Abu Dhabi emirate has developed a long-term plan to guide the future growth of the emirate (Abu Dhabi 2030). As a result, all of its departments and entities need to align to this strategic plan, which involves change. In many cases, this has forced organizations/entities to …

Workplace Bullying: Proven Methodologies To Mitigate The Issue Within The Government Contracting Workplace Environment, Wendy Jan Kirk

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study is to ascertain proven methods to adopt within the workplace to mediate workplace bullying in organizations in a specific region of north Alabama, with emphasis given to organizations whose workforce is mixed, consisting of federal government employees as well as contracted staffers. At the theoretical level, this study aims to consolidate knowledge from Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) in the field of workplace bullying and outline concrete steps and implementable plans for area corporate leadership to implement within their organization. At the practical level this study aims to bring attention to the issue of workplace …

A Comprehensive Study Of Intrapreneruship As A Cultural Form Of Innovation And Sustainable Competive Advantage, Timothy Charles Mcdowell

Theses and Dissertations

Intrapreneurial activity within the firm varies within the contexts of employee perception and motivation. The problem explored in this study is to better understand complex internal workings of organizational dynamics, discovering what factors energize employees to perform intrapreneurially in the aerospace industry. This study examines antecedents and consequences of intrapreneurial activity within firms leading to innovation as a sustainable competitive advantage. The need for specific research is evident from limited data available regarding intrapreneurial motivation from the individual perspective within the aerospace community. The phenomenon of intrapreneurship within the aerospace industry often occurs over multiple years. This study examines the …

Assessing Organizational Health Literacy At An Academic Health Center: A Quantitative Research Study, Latrina Y. Prince

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Inadequate health literacy is a national health problem that affects about 90 million Americans. Health literacy is the degree to which a person is able to make good health decisions based on his/her ability to read, understand, and use health information and services. Organizational Health Literacy (OHL) is the degree to which an organization considers and promotes the health literacy of patients by providing easy to read, understand, and use health information and services. Since it is difficult to determine which patients have inadequate health literacy, a recommended intervention for addressing health literacy is to use OHL practices at all …

How Healthcare Accounting Adapts To Lean Practices, Caitlin R. Duke

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Healthcare has recently begun a push towards more lean practices and management. Healthcare accounting, in an effort to reflect business practices, must change to accurately reflect reality. This research seeks to explore how healthcare providers improve their accounting systems to keep up with an ever-changing lean environment. By examining both healthcare and accounting literature, this comprehensive literature review seeks to answer the question, “How does healthcare accounting adapt to lean philosophies?”.

Voice Behavior: The Role Of Perceived Support And Psychological Ownership, Andin Andiyasari, Rudolf W. Matindas, Corrina D. Riantoputra

The South East Asian Journal of Management

This study aims to delineate the key socio-emotional needs important for voice behavior. To do this, we examine individual and contextual factors as mechanisms underlying how psychological ownership and perceived support influence employee voice behavior. Employing survey research of 210 employees from two big companies in Indonesia, analyses revealed that perceived supervisor support had direct and indirect effects on voice behavior, and job-based psychological ownership is a crucial mediator of the relationship between organization-based psychological ownership and perceived supervisor support on voice behavior. Path analysis offered further support for the complete model (χ2= 4.25, df = 3, P-value = 0.235, …

The Knowledge Worker And Upskilling: Can Instructional Design Frameworks Help?, Susan W. Brown

Instructional Design Capstones Collection

This paper explores how knowledge workers face uncertainties in the job market and how workers sustain a decades-long career in the midst of technology changes and globalization pressures. In particular, this paper asks how knowledge workers self-assess knowledge gaps, discover appropriate learning opportunities, demonstrate mastery, and promote credentials across decades-long careers. Interviews with 8 knowledge workers in educational publishing, an industry undergoing workforce changes due to market disruption, provides real-world context to this research question. Taking into account various theoretical frameworks offered for adult education and also reviewing the realities of the postmodern workplace, the paper outlines the hurdles impairing …

The Dynamics Of Gender Identity And Implicit Bias Impacting Women's Executive Leadership Development Programs And Female Executive Leadership Coaching, Emelina Belle

M.A. in Leadership Studies: Capstone Project Papers

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” - Albert Einstein

The implicit gender bias and stereotypes in our society continue to impact gender diversity in executive leadership roles within organizations. The critical demand of high-potential talented female leaders to fill the gap in the corporate pipeline of senior executive positions continues to increase in our global world. Our technologically advanced society impacts this demand, the global climate of organizational change, the competition in products and services, and the impact of implicit bias and gender stereotypes influence …

A Mixed-Methods Study: Self-Efficacy And Barriers To Participation In Workplace Wellness Programs, Massiel Perez-Calhoon

Dissertations

America needs a healthy workforce to sustain the country. The scourge of obesity continues to plague Americans despite government initiatives such as the Affordable Care Act and wellness programs in the workplace to combat this epidemic. However, despite initiatives to make America healthy, barriers continued to impede the nation’s health. Lack of awareness and sensitivity to what motivates individual participants versus group participants built formidable barriers to accessing all workplace employees equitably. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, the intent of this study was to explore the relationship between self-efficacy and the impact on participation and engagement when …

Exposition Of St. Francis Xavier’S Holy Relics In Goa: An Importance-Performance Analysis, Subhash Kizhakanveatil Bhaskaran Pillai, Kaustubh Kamat, Miriam Scaglione, Carmelita D'Mello, Klaus Weiermair

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage Tourism, one of the oldest forms of travelling, is the largest tourism sector in India; annually more than 70% of domestic tourist movement is for religious purposes which comes to 250 million pilgrims (Jachowski, 2000, Singh, 2016) and accounts for 20% of the revenue generated in the tourism industry (Dewan et al., 2008), hence, making it significant religiously, economically, politically, as well as sociologically. The present study was based on a survey conducted among the visitors who came for the 17th Exposition of St Francis Xavier’s holy relics, a Christian religious event, from 22nd November 2014 to 4th January …

Positive Vs. Negative Politics And Behavioral Intentions: An Experimental Examination, Sarah Hill

Dissertations

Despite research showing that politics can be beneficial, a commonly held perception is that politics are negative, harmful, and associated with adverse outcomes. The qualitative differences between positive and negative politics perceptions and their results are still mostly elusive.

This research adds clarity by examining perceptual processes surrounding positive and negative politics perceptions. Using an experimental manipulation, behavior was held constant while political actor motivation was varied. The positive or negative inferred motives and attributions made of the actor related logically to the positive or negative nature of the politics perceptions. Further, attribution type was related to positive or negative …

Undergraduate Sport Management Students’ Perceptions Of Leadership Skills Through Service Learning, Bryan Romsa, Katelyn Romsa, Jon Lim, Scott Wurdinger

Counseling and Human Development Faculty Publications

Researchers have discovered that service learning affects students’ academic, personal, and social development. However, currently there is a gap in literature analyzing ways in which service learning affects students’ perceived leadership skills. This study examined the effectiveness of service learning on the perceived leadership skills of 74 sport management undergraduate students at a mid-sized, Midwestern, public university using Kouzes’ and Posner’s Student Leadership Practices Inventory instrument, which examines leadership practices in five areas: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. The results of this study may help faculty members …

Leveraging Academic Partnerships To Improve Logistics At Nonprofit Organizations, Andrew S. Manikas, James R. Kroes, Thomas F. Gattiker

IT and Supply Chain Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article presents the results of a partnership between a nonprofit organization and a team of academic researchers that developed a low-cost spreadsheet-based tool that allows organizations to effectively schedule vehicle operations. Specifically, the tool (1) handles the real-world constraints present in moderately complex logistics environments; and (2) uses general computing hardware and software that is already deployed in most organizations, thereby rendering the solution radically low cost (effectively free). We deployed this tool to a humanitarian organization, the Idaho Foodbank, which realized a substantial improvement in its fleet efficiency and a corresponding reduction in route-planning time. The methodology used …

Analysis Of Project Management System Structure Using The Viable System Model (Vsm), Joseph A. Sisti

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to explore the applicability of the Viable System Model as a framework for structural analysis of Project Management Systems using a case study approach. The research used a modified Viable System Model based on the work of Stafford Beer (1979) for the analysis of systems (organizations). The specific research questions explored in this research were: (1) How can the Viable System Model (VSM) be adapted for analysis of project management structure? And, (2) What results from exploration of the Viable System Model framework application to active project management structures?

The research used an exploratory …

Centers Of Excellence: Management Within Multinational Corporations, Thomas Coughlan, Gary Bernstein

WCBT Faculty Publications

As organizations expand geographically, and especially when expanding globally, they often find it necessary, or more effective, to develop Centers of Excellence (CoE). If properly structured these centers can reduce cost, improve efficiency, leverage organizational assets, and often improve levels of organizational innovation. This is the next installment in a series of articles started in the first issues of the JMI exploring these very challenging issues (Coughlan & Bernstein, 2015). In this installment the authors will specifically address issues surrounding leadership, integrated governance model, standardization, continuous improvement, business continuity, and managing through hard target metrics. This article assumes that the …

The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership Style And Employees’ Perception Of Leadership Success In Higher Education, Tatrabian Jackson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The problem addressed examined whether two merged academic institutions was successful in implementing a transformational leadership style within the united organization. Successful leadership cannot be limited to the perception of only the leader, but must include the perceptions of the follower as well. The focus of this study was to investigate the relationship between transformational leadership style and the employee’s perception of leadership success. This research study provides the opportunity to advance the fields of organizational change, management, and academics by examining the success of transformational leadership through the perception of the employees in higher education as it related to …

How To Conduct A Mini-Ethnographic Case Study: A Guide For Novice Researchers, Patricia I. Fusch Ph.D., Gene E. Fusch, Lawrence R. Ness

The Qualitative Report

The authors present how to construct a mini-ethnographic case study design with the benefit of an ethnographic approach bounded within a case study protocol that is more feasible for a student researcher with limited time and finances. The novice researcher should choose a design that enables one to best answer the research question. Secondly, one should choose the design that assists the researcher in reaching data saturation. Finally, the novice researcher must choose the design in which one can complete the study within a reasonable time frame with minimal cost. This is particularly important for student researchers. One can blend …

Determining Field Requirements Of The Air Force Supply System: A Delphi Study, Dominic G. Baker

Theses and Dissertations

The Air Force Supply System can be a convoluted network of organizations with different classes of supply being managed by different organizations. Individuals deployed to austere environments must interact with multiple organizations to get logistics support. Recent supply organizational changes have improved the Air Forces ability to present combat support capability to the combatant commands and deployed logisticians. This research focused on simplifying the process by identifying the need for and determining the ideal capabilities provided by a Logistics Command and Control support cell that would provide a touch point for logistics support to those in a deployed or austere …