Digital Commons Network^™

Effective Empowerment In Organizations, Gary A. Yukl, Wendy S. Baker

Organization Management Journal

Psychological empowerment is the perception that workers can help determine their own work roles, accomplish meaningful work, and influence important decisions. Empowerment has been studied from different perspectives, including employee perceptions, leadership behaviors, and management programs. Despite positive rhetoric, programs designed to increase empowerment seldom achieve the benefits promised. Inconclusive and seemingly contradictory outcomes stem from the fact that few companies give employees significant control and access to management information. A half century of research suggests that empowerment strategies can offer real benefits. We outline facilitating conditions for effective empowerment, including characteristics of organizations, leaders, employees, and the work itself.

Editor's Introduction, Eric H. Kessler

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Mindsets And Internationalization Success: An Exploratory Study Of The British Retail Grocery Industry, Sucheta Nadkarni, Pedro David Perez, Benjamin Morganstein

Organization Management Journal

Despite the growing pressures of internationalization, failures in international efforts are becoming increasingly widespread. Previous literature has developed external environmental and internal firm-specific explanations of international success, but has ignored the role of mindsets in understanding international failures. This gap is especially important because recent studies contend that the mindsets or the way top managers make sense of their global environment is central to international decision making and outcomes. We propose that mindsets are important in explaining international success. We compare the mindsets of two matched firms in the British retail grocery industry—one successful (Tesco) and another unsuccessful (Sainsbury)—from 1988 …

Understanding Employees' Willingness To Contributeto Shared Electronic Databases: A Three-Dimensional Framework, Guowei Jian, Leo Wayne Jeffres

Communication Faculty Publications

Work organizations increasingly adopt shared electronic databases. However, employees' unwillingness to contribute to shared resources undermines the utility of such technologies. Current research is limited to either a utilitarian or normative perspective. To advance understanding in this area, this study proposes a three-dimensional framework. It includes the utilitarian and normative perspectives as two complementary dimensions in addition to a third collaborative dimension. Based on this framework, the study identifies three key organizational processes and advances an additive model to predict employees' willingness to contribute to shared electronic databases. An empirical test was conducted to assess the model in a large …

A Graph Theoretic Analysis Of The Effects Of Organizational Structure On Employee Social Networks, John R. Hutzel

Theses and Dissertations

A simulation technique was used to investigate the impacts of organizational structure on an organization's social network. By simulating personnel in an organization as vertices in a graph and the aging of the corporation as the aging of the same graph, the maturation of an organization was realized. The characteristic path length of the graph was measured after each year returning an optimistic average organizational distance. Results include the finding that, per this model, an organization's characteristic path length can drop over 50% in a 20 year period with consideration of edges of all strengths. Next a series of random …

Formal And Informal Work Group Relationships With Performance: A Moderation Model Using Social Network Analysis, Benjamin R. Knost

Theses and Dissertations

Social networks have recently emerged in the management discipline as a unique way of studying individuals groups in organizations. While traditionally used in the analysis of un-bounded networks, applying social network analysis techniques to bounded work groups and organizational teams has become increasingly popular. Past research has established relationships between in-degree social network centrality and individual performance as well as social network density and overall group performance. This field study, conducted at a military training course, attempted to further refine this social network-performance relationship by modeling characteristics of both the formal and informal work group networks in relation to performance …

Living Our Mission: A Study Of University Mission Building, Sarah Bonewits Feldner

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

At the same time that organizational communication and management scholars are focusing attention on trends of spirituality in the workplace, faith-based organizations are taking up the question of how they might maintain a distinct spiritual identity. For these institutions, communicating mission becomes the defining feature of institutional identity. Explicitly religious organizations provide a venue for understanding the implications of incorporating spirituality in organizational discourse. This empirical study explores a mission-building conference and examines the ways in which communicating a spiritual mission simultaneously enriches and constrains both the individual members and the organizations as a whole.

Worship Styles, Musicand Social Identity: A Communication Study, Terri Lynne Johnson, Jill E. Rudd, Kimberly Neuendorf, Guowei Jian

Communication Faculty Publications

This quantitative study investigates music and worship style preferences. A survey measured participants' worship and music preferences in order to further examine the relationship between the two. Multiple and logistic regressions were significant indicating that preferred music genres can be used to predict one's worship style preference. Further investigation used Social Identity Theory to examine the conflict that often occurs within churches over music and worship styles. Therefore, the survey included the Identification with a Psychological Group scale to measure participants' identification with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Multiple regression results showed a significant overall prediction of organizational identity, indicating …

‘Flex Your Power’: Energy Crises And The Shifting Rhetoric Of The Grid, Anne Marie Todd, A. Wood

Faculty Publications

In response to widespread power outages, rolling blackouts, and ubiquitous energy debates, this essay considers our relation to energy and the grid that produces it. First, we investigate California's multimedia Flex Your Power campaign, which defines consumers as nodes of the grid to emphasize their responsibility to maintain a stable energy supply. Second, we examine state and national responses to the 2003 blackout in the Northeastern United States, attending to three strategies through which grid administrators sought to impose order, enact hierarchy, and deindividuate power. We propose that the grid invokes personalization at the "local" level and abstraction at the …

Distancing From Problematic Coworkers, Jon A. Hess

Communication Faculty Publications

Troublesome relationships are a universal aspect of human social interaction (Levitt, Silver, & Franco, 1996). Perhaps nowhere besides the family are problematic relationships so commonplace as in the workplace. Although relationship research primarily focuses on positive relations and thorny problems that occur even in the best of relationships, virtually everyone who has worked in an organization can relate stories of problematic relationships. The challenges these relationships pose resonate with people’s deepest feelings and most significant experiences at work. Problematic work relationships are often as memorable as they are challenging. Workplace relations are largely nonvoluntary relationships. They are created when people …

Communicating The Modern Entrepreneurial University In The 21st Century: A Case Study Of Academic Capitalism And Media Messaging In The Pursuit Of Revenues And National Prominence At Louisiana State University, Charles F. Zewe

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

American public universities have passed through three stages of development: the religious, the philanthropic/land-grant, and the federal research university. Squeezed by government budget cuts and demands for more money to pay for research and faculty raises, U.S. higher education has entered a fourth phase, the entrepreneurial university. Public universities are increasingly capitalizing on the intellectual property of their faculty and students to sustain themselves and expand. Administrators spout free-market rhetoric as faculty attempt to commercialize research by creating spin-off companies. Using Louisiana State University as a case study, this dissertation, applies a combination of organizational knowledge creation and resource dependence …

Special Issue “Emerging Scholars, Developing Perspectives, Promising Processes” Editors’ Introduction, Cliff Oswick, Tom Keenoy, Ida Sabelis, Sierk Ybema

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Special Issue “Emerging Scholars, Developing Perspectives, Promising Processes” Editors’ Introduction, Cliff Oswick, Tom Keenoy, Ida Sabelis, Sierk Ybema

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Integrated Marketing Communications: From The Lens Of Public Relations Educators And Scholars, Vijaya Singh

Theses and Dissertations

The researcher viewed Integrated Marketing Communications through the lens of the Public Relations educators and scholars to determine whether IMC is beneficial or detrimental to the field of public relations.

The purpose of this thesis was to explore (a) impact of IMC on public relations education (b) perceived advantages and disadvantages of an IMC approach to a public relations curriculum (c) determine if a need exists to revise public relations education at the university level.

To examine the impact of IMC on public relations education the researcher conducted a formal quantitative content analysis of the curricula of 13 graduate programs …

Building Skills F2f – Using Chat Reference Techniques, Darcy C. Del Bosque, Kimberly Chapman

Library Faculty Research

The UTSA Library, like many organizations, has been experiencing a period of rapid growth and change. Even positive change can cause stress in departments, and one way to help employees deal with change, while still providing customer-oriented service, is to establish a regular forum for discussion that encourages departmental communication.

Training is an important aspect of employee development; however, the literature indicates that, in many organizations, training is often given little attention and relegated to the sidelines due to other demands on staff. With the hiring of new personnel, including a new Head of Reference and a Training Coordinator, the …

Winona Currents, University Advancement-Winona State University

Winona Currents

This magazine published by Winona State University’s University Advancement was intended to inform WSU Alumni, students, faculty, staff and the greater community about Alumni and the university. It also includes an Annual Report published in December of each year.

Prospectus, August 17, 2005, Jon Volkman, Aaron Geiger, Nicole Simmons, Angela Corray, Sarah Ramey, Larry V. Gilbert, Joseph Rosenbaum, Erin Koelkebeck

Prospectus 2005

No abstract provided.

Change And Connections: Passion And Organizational Change, Lynn Baird

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

First paragraph:

Librarians are change agents, working in an environment that requires us to be both leading and chasing change. We lead change when we create programs to meet our institutional needs based upon our knowledge of our students and faculty, available resources, and our awareness of the potential for what might be. We chase change when institutional priorities shift suddenly, in response to external forces such as funding or politics, or as a result of leadership transitions. Change can be invigorating for us as it keeps the creative juices flowing. Conversely, it can be exhausting when we feel as …

Spirituality: A Way To Alternate Subjectivity?, Mihaela Kelemen, Tuomo Peltonen

Organization Management Journal

This paper emphasizes the contribution of Michel Foucault and Pierre Hadot to discussions of workplace spirituality. It is argued that their understanding of spirituality differs significantly from the mainstream management contributions: they view spirituality as a distinct form of post-modern subjectivity in organizations and regard the subject as continuous flow emerging and being constructed not so much at the crossroad of institutions and macro-structures but from within, with the help of self-formation practices. We term the latter spirituality and argue, firstly, that there are strong (albeit controversial) connections between spiritual practices, the history of Christianity, and the philosophy of antiquity. …

Should Critical Management Studies And Organization Development Collaborate? Invitation To A Contemplation, Maxim Voronov

Organization Management Journal

In this article, the author argues that despite important differences between Critical Management Studies (CMS) and Organization Development (OD), there is enough common ground to make a dialogue worthwhile for both fields and for management practice. The author outlines some major "objectives" of each field, noting some important but frequently overlooked similarities and complementarities between them. Power and empowerment are offered as examples of focal topics around which the two disciplines could have a productive discussion, suggesting that such an exchange would help CMS’ important insights about power to have more of an impact on organizational practice while enhancing OD's …

Spartan Daily, March 15, 2005, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily (School of Journalism and Mass Communications)

Volume 124, Issue 33

Creating Meaning In Organizational Change: A Case In Higher Education, Kathleen Barnett

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

As change is an inevitable part of organizational life, this study explores one aspect of communication in organizational change: the creation and use of meaning during the change process. The implementation of a new, higher education admissions criteria framework of a state master plan is the specific change under study. University administrators, contracted consultants, and board staff members participated in the study. Framed by symbolic interactionism and a stakeholder perspective, I pose four research questions: RQ1: What meanings were created during the particular process of change under study? RQ2: How were meanings intentionally and unintentionally created among stakeholders during this …

Recent Research Of Note, Tahira M. Probst

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Recent Research Of Note, Tahira M. Probst

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Complexity Theory As A Practical Management Tool: A Critical Evaluation, Aaron C.T. Smith

Organization Management Journal

Complexity theory is receiving increasing attention in both academic and popular literature as a potential management tool. As momentum gathers surrounding its popularity in practical management, complexity theory is poised to become a management ‘fad’, and potentially an influential paradigm for the future. However, much of the literature concerning complexity theory contains inconsistent terminology and a lack of operationally empirical definitions. This has made it difficult for researchers to specify empirical questions in order to frame complexity research, and for practitioners to acquire the key principles for implementation. It has also opened a Pandora’s Box of commentaries which proclaim that …

Complexity Theory As A Practical Management Tool: A Critical Evaluation, Aaron C.T. Smith

Organization Management Journal

Complexity theory is receiving increasing attention in both academic and popular literature as a potential management tool. As momentum gathers surrounding its popularity in practical management, complexity theory is poised to become a management ‘fad’, and potentially an influential paradigm for the future. However, much of the literature concerning complexity theory contains inconsistent terminology and a lack of operationally empirical definitions. This has made it difficult for researchers to specify empirical questions in order to frame complexity research, and for practitioners to acquire the key principles for implementation. It has also opened a Pandora’s Box of commentaries which proclaim that …

Revitalizing The Subaru Difference: A Communications Audit To Determine Effectiveness At Subaru Of America, Inc., Thomas Paolella

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was multifaceted. The first purpose was to examine the Subaru Difference Initiative campaign of several years ago and see what aspects succeeded and what areas needed change. The second purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Subaru Difference and the role it currently plays within the Subaru of America Corporation. The third purpose was to perform research to obtain a better understanding of how employees would like to be communicated with in the future regarding the Difference and also what future steps can be taken to improve the overall clarity and effectiveness of this …

Practioner- Heal Thyself! Challenges In Enabling Organizational Health, Kathyrn Goldman-Schyuler

Organization Management Journal

In order to elucidate my approach to organizational health, I explore the inter-relationship between organizational health and the consultant’s state of being in the context of writings that have influenced the development of my work as an organizational change consultant over the past 20 years: the behavioral sciences and less traditional sources, such as studies with Moshe Feldenkrais, the writings of GI Gurdjieff and the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, and recent research on the impact of meditation on leaders. This is placed in the context of Frost’s (1999, 2001) research on “toxic handlers”.

University Reporter - Vol. 08, No. 08 - April 2004, University Of Massachusetts Boston

1996-2009, University Reporter

No abstract provided.

University Reporter - Vol. 08, No. 05 - January 2004, University Of Massachusetts Boston

1996-2009, University Reporter

No abstract provided.