Digital Commons Network^™

Implementing Bpr Projects In The Us Vs. In France, Catherine Se Chao

Theses Digitization Project

This study deals with the cultural differences between conducting business in Eruope particularly in France compared to conducting business in the United States.

The Relationship Between Transitory Organizational Structures And Non-Linear Environments, Valentin H. Pashtenko, Matthew H. Roy, Sanjiv S. Dugal

WCBT Faculty Publications

Examines non-linear adaptation to change in the high-technology environment of the computer industry. These environments are defined, and the efficacy of different organizational adaptations is assessed with respect to these environments. Results from our analyses show that there is a direct and causal relationship between the employment of non-linear organizational archetypes and organizational effectiveness within high-technology industries.

Technology Features As Triggers For Sensemaking, Terri L. Griffith

Management & Entrepreneurship

Technology implementation is complex and often unpredictable. Although previous research describes mechanisms related to the social construction of technology and technology use in organizations, researchers have focused little on the inputs to these models. In this article I attempt to fill this void by examining triggers for initial user sensemaking. The prediction of sensemaking should enhance the application of theories, such as adaptive structuration, and inform the management of technology through greater anticipation of user understanding.

The Transformational Influence Of Narrative Enrichment, Maxine L. Lynch

Student Scholarship

This social constructionist study examined what occurred to 20 high school students exposed to the narrative genre of news story writing to try to add to the knowledge about the narrative mode of thought. This applied research project used various qualitative methods to interview, analyze and discuss the changes that occurred in these students who became narratively enriched from their participation in journalism workshops that were designed to help them learn how to write and publish news stories. The findings where that learning to write narrative news stories stimulated changes in the students' values and sense of self-determination. The study …

Habitus Wars And Field(S) Of Dreams: Using Bourdieu To Reframe The Sense Of A Crisis, Louann Hofheins Cummings

Student Scholarship

The paper illustrates the application of Pierre Bourdieu's oeuvre to a qualitative research project regarding organizational change. Considerable attention is given to the interaction of field delineation, capital stakes struggle, interests, and individual/class habitus at both a church and a medical college. It is posited that a focus on field analysis considers the sources of capital struggle in a given realm. This, in turn, grants a researcher a new way to analyze who participates in these struggles, what prized capital stimulates interest, and how action and prctices are subsequently engendered. This body of work suggests that agents and/or classes have …

1998-1999 Financial Summary, Morehead State University. Budget & Financial Planning Office.

Morehead State University Financial Summaries Archive

1998-1999 Financial Summary of Morehead State University.

Organizational Culture, Tqm, And Business Process Reengineering: An Empirical Comparison, Edward W. Gore Jr.

WCBT Faculty Publications

The results of this study underscore the importance of organizational culture and suggest that TQM provides a way to build a culture that supports improvement. Top managers must focus on this role for TQM. Too often the need for quick returns on the effort leads to a focus on the "tools" and specific improvements and this emphasis can work against developing a supportive culture. Reengineering is an example of this phenomenon. Frustration with the time it takes to carry through on a TQM initiative caused firms to try reengineering, which, with its emphasis on outsiders and specialized personnel, works against …

Meta-Ethnographic Development Of A Dialogue Methodology Applied To Organization Discourse, Shelley P. Gallup

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A gap exists between theoretical stances that acknowledge the importance of dialogue as a dynamic within socially constructed structures, and "steersmanship" of those constructs--e.g., directing, intervening or transforming organizations. A "mechanism" which links theory with practice is missing, leaving practitioners with an acknowledgment of dialogue's central position, but without tools to enact this centrality in practice or research. This research constructs a conceptual model of dialogue, derived from the literature. Using this model as a base, the research seeks to generate a dialogue methodology bridging theory and practice with respect to organizational dialogue. The model, methodology, and research results are …

Environmental Change And Management Staffing: An Empirical Examination Of The Electric Utilities Industry, Ram Subramanian, Carol M. Sanchez

Peer Reviewed Articles

This paper examines the relationship between environmental change, changes in competitive dynamics, and top management staffing in the electric utilities industry during the period surrounding the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct 92). The findings suggest that following the passage of the EPAct 92, competition in the electric utilities industry intensified placing greater emphasis on achieving internal, firm-level efficiencies. This external environmental change and the corresponding shift in the competitive context resulted in an adjustment in the composition of the top management coalition in these firms. The dominant coalition following the EPAct 92 consisted of older managers …

Entrepreneurship As A New Career At Midlife Or Later: A Study Of The Relationship Between The Entrepreneurial Process And Personal Characteristics/Environmental Conditions In Career Transitions To Entrepreneurship, Suzanne Palmer

Student Scholarship

The topic of entrepreneurship at midlife or later was studied against a background reflecting the scope and role of entrepreneurship in the U.S., the phenomenon of downsizing/early retirement, and issues around work and aging. The goal of the project was to understand the entrepreneurial process for later life entrepreneurs, and the relationship between that process and both the personal characteristics of and the environmental conditions for individuals who become later life entrepreneurs. A literature review considered research on the psychology of the entrepreneur and the social and environmental dimensions of entrepreneurship, as well as specific types of entrepreneurs, and career …

Straight To The Heart: Cleveland Leaders Shaping The Next Millennium, Shawana P. Johnson

Student Scholarship

While touring the Frascati vineyards outside ofRome with a business associate and as we learned the basic techniques of winemaking, our in-between conversation was focused on the difficulties and change our industry and his country were facing. We pondered and discussed our positions and responsibilities for our organization. during this time. We were well aware of the many industry challenges facing us and our board ofdirectors. It was upon reflection ofthat conversation and the memory of that beautiful scenario of those luscious vineyards that it struck me how similar the management ofthe fruit·ofthe grapevine is to the management of organizations. …

1997-1998 Financial Summary, Morehead State University. Budget & Financial Planning Office.

Morehead State University Financial Summaries Archive

1997-1998 Financial Summary of Morehead State University.

Business Process Change And The Role Of The Management Accountant, Sakthi Mahenthiran, Russ Kershaw

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

The role if the management accountant (MA) is undergoing a transition from that if a "number-crunching" preparer of financial statements and cost reports to that if a business partner. The MA is increasingly expected to analyze and explain the business implications if financial information and is becoming more involved in strategic planning, performance evaluation, and business process reengineering. Changes in the business environment have caused many companies to modify their strategic objectives and redesign their existing business processes. Firms can initiate and manage business process change (BPC) using different approaches. This article identifies the particular management accounting activities and skills …

Environmental Regulatory Influence And Product Innovation: The Contingency Effects Of Organizational Characteristics, Carol M. Sanchez, William Mckinley

Peer Reviewed Articles

This paper examines the relationship between environmental regulatory influence and product innovation in a multi-industry sample of manufacturing organizations. Our theory argues that the influence of environmental regulation on the level of product innovation in a manufacturing organization is at least partially contingent on the organization's internal characteristics -- in particular, its structural flexibility and production process flexibility. Hypotheses are derived from our theory and tested, and the results are consistent with the conclusion that structural flexibility and production process flexibility moderate the environmental regulatory influence-product innovation relationship. Whether environmental regulation inhibits or promotes product innovation seems to depend at …

The Changing Context Of Practice, Stephen M. Brown

WCBT Faculty Publications

Environmental and organizational changes are putting new demands on training. Training must change to support new organizational structures within a complex and changing business and social environment.

Evaluation of training must be multilevel, customer focused, and support continuous improvement of training.The challenge is to provide meaningful data that enables assessment of customer satisfaction, business impact, and return on investment.

The Organizational Action Research Model, Morton Elfenbein, Stephen M. Brown, Kim H. Knight

WCBT Faculty Publications

This chapter proposes a paradigm, which empowers practitioners to practice research to meet their needs and to advance the profession to which they belong. It proposes the integration of practitioner and researcher role as an alternative to the fragmented model that currently exists. In doing so, it draws much from the past tradition of the action researchers as well as the science approach espoused by others. In this way, the needs of individual managers to evaluate their espoused theories and their theories-in-use can be undertaken so that their organizations can function more realistically and can respond more effectively to the …

Hardiness And Job Fitness For The Intensive Family Preservation Specialist: A Correlational Study, Sandi Fisher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is costly to train the counselors who serve in intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS). The hiring agency must pay for traveling expenses in addition to any fee paid for training. When an IFPS worker chooses to terminate employment before the end of two years of employment, this puts a strain on an already tight budget. This problem could be alleviated by finding an efficient pre-hire screening instrument. The three personality traits described in Hardiness Theory literature: commitment, challenge, and control, are traits often used to describe the ideal IFPS worker. This study assessed IFPS workers to determine if the …

The Effect Of Managers' Clarification Of Business Linkage Of Training On Trainees' Transfer Of Training, Elizabeth J. Benanzer

Dissertations

This study investigated the hypotheses that if managers were engaged in specific activities aimed at increasing their understanding of the linkage of employee training to business goals, then they would in turn create a more positive transfer environment, resulting in greater transfer of training received by their employees. Some managers of trainees participated in a workshop in which they used an “impact mapping” procedure to clearly explain the relationship between training of their employees and strategic goals of the business; another group of managers did not receive this impact mapping training. Then, all managers’ employees participated in a supervisory training …

1996-1997 Financial Summary, Morehead State University. Budget & Financial Planning Office.

Morehead State University Financial Summaries Archive

1996-1997 Financial Summary of Morehead State University.

Managing Change Without Changing Managers: An Investigation Of Influences On Decision Making Performance Of Public Sector Managers Within Novel And Complex Environments, David Clark-Murphy

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study examines relationships between the cognitive and decision making styles of individual managers, and their decision making performance , within public sector environments during structural and cultural reform. The main purpose is to develop a more effective means of matching managers to their novel and complex working environments, to minimise staff turnover and improve productivity.

The Cluster Connection - Volume 6, Issue 2 - September 1996, Nova Southeastern University

The Cluster Connection

No abstract provided.

Implementing Total Quality Management In Business And Academe: A Case Study, Nancy O. Bartell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Total quality management (TQM) is a philosophy and process that has been successfully implemented in many business firms. Other organizations, including institutions of higher education, have become increasingly interested in adopting it. It is likely that facilitators need to be cognizant of organizational differences and adjust facilitation methods and strategies accordingly. This dissertation is an exploratory study designed to examine the role of the TQM facilitator in diverse settings. Specifically, the study is an in-depth two-case research study of TQM implementation in an international manufacturing firm and a regional institution of higher education. The primary foci of this dissertation are …

An Analysis Of Structure, Organization, And Activities Of Community Dispute Resolution Centers In Virginia, Terri Colby Barr

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

This study is a comparative analysis of the structure, organization and activities of the nine non-profit (501 (c)(3)) mediation centers for the resolution of dispute (CDRC) in Virginia. Data for the analysis was collected through on-site interviews, in-depth case studies, and discussions with the leadership of the centers.

The CDRCs suffer from funding shortfalls which pressure them to shift their attention away from their mission. They are dependent upon the state's court contracts for mediation services in order to financially supplement their pro bono mediations and to generate operating capital. The large-budget CDRCs provide a considerable number of pro bono …

Cross-Cultural Differences And Intercultural Cooperation In The Context Of Change And Uncertainty: Americans And Finns In The Workplace, Maija Llisa Herweg

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

American and Finnish workers in financial institutions in the United States and in Finland were interviewed in their respective languages to explore cross-cultural differences in response to change and uncertainty in the work place. Changes were explored in the domains of organizational, process, procedure and work content, and technological changes in the work place. As a point of departure for this study, Hofstede's IBM study, as it pertains to Uncertainty Avoidance--a measure he used to evaluate culture-based resistance to change--was used for this study.

Differences in the kinds of change considered difficult to adjust to were found in the cross-cultural …

Integrating Key Functions In Product Development : A Conceptual Product Development Model For The Korean Context, Jong-Wook Kim

Theses

The high-tech market is characterized by market uncertainty, technology uncertainty and rapid change. To survive in this risky high-tech market, a company must create competitively effective product development practices that meet its own unique needs and circumstances.

One effective practice is cross-functional integration in the product development process. The advantages of integration include a shortened time to market, successful transformation of research results to production, productivity improvement, innovation project success, and high-quality problem solutions. However, these advantages are rarely obtained in the current product development practices of Korean companies. Their product development efforts are generally characterized by time consuming sequential …

1994-1995 Financial Summary, Morehead State University. Budget & Financial Planning Office.

Morehead State University Financial Summaries Archive

1994-1995 Financial Summary of Morehead State University.

Small Business Transformation: The Meds Approach, Ravi S. Behara, David E. Gundersen

Faculty Publications

In today's rapidly changing business environment, small businesses must gain a deeper understanding of the future to develop strategies that will provide them with sustainable competitive advantage. The traditional approaches to strategy formulation are inadequate in an environment that is complex and dynamic. This paper investigates a "new" approach that helps small businesses "see the future." It discusses an application of the multi­ equilibrium dissipative structures (MEDS) approach to strategy formulation within the context of a small business involved in medical management software development. The dissipative systems approach can be used to evaluate the critical discontinuities that a small business …

Leadership Is Everyone's Business & Other Lessons From Over A Dozen Years Of Leadership Research, Barry Z. Posner, James M. Kouzes

Management & Entrepreneurship

In this article we discuss several lessons we've learned from thousands of venturers about what it takes to get extraordinary things done in organizations, and we examine some implications for the practice of organization development.

Diversity Management: An Administrative Case Study In A Tax-Exempt Human Service Organization, Jerry L. Johnson

Masters Theses

Diversity management is a business strategy that is intended to create an organizational climate where people from diverse backgrounds can succeed based on their work performance and not their personal similarities or differences with the organization's leadership. Diversity management programs are intended to help business remove barriers resulting from discrimination.; The present study investigated the need for a diversity management program in a tax-exempt human service organization. The perceptions and attitudes of organization employees, measured by survey instruments, in conjunction with an employee compensation study, provided the data for this investigation.; The instrument designed for this study and the random …

Management Buyouts And Small Business Performance: An Exploratory Examination And Research Agenda, Garry D. Bruton, J. Kay Keels, Elton Scifres

Faculty Publications

Management buyout activity is increasingly shifting from large firms to small firms. However, to date, little is known about how such activities impact the performance of small firms. This research has identified a sample of small firms that have undergone a management buyout and found that, relative to other firms in their respective industries, these small buyout firms experienced performance gains similar to those experienced in buyouts of larger firms. Suggestions for extending this area of research are made.