Digital Commons Network^™

Research Brief: "Investing In Vets: Strategies To Help Returning Gulf War Vets Enter The Civilian Work Force Successfully", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study found that corporate leadership, veteran-specific training, and a long-term commitment to veterans’ employment were all significant factors in diminishing barriers to veteran employment and reintegration. In practice, social workers who understand business and organizational change can be leaders in supporting veterans in the workplace, and also in advocating for positive social change for veterans and their families. For employers, increased cultural competence concerning military populations would be helpful. In policy, organizations should work on creating coalitions of corporate leaders who have the power to change policies, programs, and practices, and who will monitor the success of these policy …

Addressing Uncertainty During Workplace Change: Communication And Sense-Making, Richard Parsells

Administrative Issues Journal

Change is a commonplace occurrence in today’s organizations. In order to survive in an extremely competitive marketplace, organizations and their employees undergo change frequently. The ability to manage change and to learn from this experience is now viewed as a key competency for sustainable competitiveness in most business markets. However, while change management processes are employed and followed, a high percentage of change efforts are judged to be unsuccessful by upper management. Moreover, a number of scholars suggest that communication strategies during organizational change are an important element to the success of a change initiative, yet such strategies are not …

The State Of Representation And Segregation Among African American Women At The U.S. Department Of Commerce: An Examination Of The Intersection Of Strategic Planning With Race And Gender, Sesha Joi Moon

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The intent of this dissertation is to examine the state of representation and segregation among African American women across the workforce at the United States Department of Commerce. This study employs a triangulated research design to examine the relationship between elements of strategic planning and the employment patterns of African American women. This study's qualitative analysis includes a content analysis of 13 agency-specific strategic documents published between FY 1994 through FY 2010. This data is supplemented with a longitudinal trend analysis of personnel data for fulltime, permanent employees retrieved from the National Finance Center for the same time period. The …

Uplifting: Improvements In Boston Area Client Well-Being, Ryan Kling, Lisa Kalimon, Tanya Stepasiuk, Bukola Usidame, Ryan Mclane, Ryan Whalen, Ana Maria Sanchez, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Public Policy Practicum Projects

LIFT-Boston, a local non-profit organization, entered into a collaborative partnership in September 2012 with McCormack Graduate School Public Policy Ph.D. students and faculty to develop and execute a research project. The goals of this endeavor were to assist LIFT-Boston in understanding the outcomes associated with its services and enable the organization to further pursue service goals.

The primary research questions respond to the organization’s most fundamental questions. These include how the organization’s unique service model impacts clients across several objective and subjective dimensions of well-being. Secondary questions focus on how these impacts may translate into increases or decreases in student …

Practicum Projects, Michael P. Johnson

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

Executive Summary LIFT-Boston, a local non-profit organization, entered into a collaborative partnership in September 2012 with McCormack Graduate School Public Policy Ph.D. students and faculty to develop and execute a research project. The goals of this endeavor were to assist LIFT-Boston in understanding the outcomes associated with its services and enable the organization to further pursue service goals. The primary research questions respond to the organization’s most fundamental questions. These include how the organization’s unique service model impacts clients across several objective and subjective dimensions of well-being. Secondary questions focus on how these impacts may translate into increases or decreases …

Specialists, Generalists, And Policy Advocacy By Charitable Nonprofit Organizations, Heather Macindoe, Ryan Whalen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Previous research finds modest levels of engagement in policy advocacy by charitable nonprofits, despite legal regulations permitting nonprofit advocacy and the significance of public policy to nonprofit constituencies. This paper examines nonprofit involvement in policy advocacy using survey data from Boston, Massachusetts. Nonprofit participation in policy advocacy is associated with professionalization, resource dependence, features of the institutional environment, and organizational characteristics such as size and mission. Drawing from population ecology theory, we examine an additional aspect of organizational mission: whether a nonprofit serves a specialized or general population. We find that nonprofits serving specialized populations are more likely to participate …

Disruptive Transformations In Health Care: Technological Innovation And The Acute Care General Hospital, D. Pulane Lucas

Theses and Dissertations

Advances in medical technology have altered the need for certain types of surgery to be performed in traditional inpatient hospital settings. Less invasive surgical procedures allow a growing number of medical treatments to take place on an outpatient basis. Hospitals face growing competition from ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). The competitive threats posed by ASCs are important, given that inpatient surgery has been the cornerstone of hospital services for over a century. Additional research is needed to understand how surgical volume shifts between and within acute care general hospitals (ACGHs) and ASCs. This study investigates how medical technology within the hospital …

Maximizing Community Action: An Internship With Be The Change, Rachel Rosenbaum

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

From 3 April 2013 to 28 April 2013, I interned with the Brisbane branch of Be The Change, an organization that promotes ecological, social and spiritual sustainability through their empowering symposiums, in Australia. I focused on creating a tool to help symposium participants take community action after the event. My goal was to create a resource for Be The Change to use across Australia to further its impact, attend a symposium and implement sustainable actions in my everyday life.

In the 140 total hours of work I completed, I helped plan a symposium, participated in workshops and events within the …

Public Perceptions Regarding The Police Bureau And Crime In Portland, Oregon, Brian Renauer, Kimberly Barsamian Kahn, Kris R. Henning, Greg Stewart

Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute Research Briefs

On September 12, 2012 the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint in the Federal District Court for Oregon asserting that the City of Portland has engaged in a pattern and practice of unnecessary or excessive force against persons experiencing a mental health crisis. This survey is the result of a settlement agreement between Portland’s City Council and the DOJ which specified the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) develop a means of assessing public perceptions.

This report examines public perceptions of PPB across four content areas that are highlighted in the DOJ settlement agreement. Data for the report were …

Evolution And Change In Civic Engagement Organizations: A Life-Cycle Analysis Of The Maine League Of Young Voters, Nathan J.R. Grant

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

The Maine League of Young Voters is an organization involved in educational and political civic engagement activities in the State of Maine. A membership base consisting of hundreds of grassroots members makes up the base of the organization. By studying the life cycle of the Maine League of Young Voters and comparing it to similar civic engagement organizations, the research here aims to increase the body of knowledge available about how these types of organizations evolve and change. Findings from surveys and interviews indicated that the organization was over-extending the membership, despite a strong grassroots network, and that more delegation …

Functional Analysis And Operations Review Of The Oregon Department Of Education, Masami Nishishiba, Shannon Grzybowski, Andrew Dzeguze

Center for Public Service Publications and Reports

In November 2012, the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) entered into an Intergovernmental Agreement with Portland State University’s (PSU) Center for Public Service (CPS). This agreement outlines the scope of work for CPS to perform a Functional Analysis and Operations Review of ODE. The Scope of Work includes:

1. Conduct interviews with key ODE personnel, Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ) legal advisors, Oregon Department of Administrative Services (DAS) staff, and education community key stakeholders. Interviews will be used to determine the extent to which existing ODE personnel have the understanding and tools needed to effectively perform their jobs consistent with …

How Cultural Elements Are Reflected In Policy Discourse Regarding Work-Life Balance : Policy Discourse As An Indicator Of Korean Culture, Ji Sung Kim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

As the proportion of both working women and dual-income families has increased worldwide over the last few decades, employees' value orientations related to their quality of life have changed considerably, in regard to both their work and personal lives. With these changes, a variety of work-life balance policies and practices have emerged to help employees manage their work and family responsibilities. In addition. policy discussions and public discourse regarding issues of work-life balance have expanded. In the Republic of Korea, the research context of this research, although there have been many efforts both from the legislature and government to promote …

From Capability Trap To Capacity Development : Understanding Local Capacity For Managing Disasters, Asmita Tiwari

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The concept of capacity development is essential to the idea of governance and development. Over the decades, governments and development agencies have promoted capacity development programs. With the increasing number of disaster events and associated losses, there has been heightened attention given to governments' capacity to manage disasters. This is associated with a paradigm shift from reactive to proactive actions. Prevention requires capacity to understand, reduce, and manage risk. Nevertheless, a universally acceptable overarching framework of capacity development does not exist.

A Mixed-Methods Approach To Examining The Memphis Crisis Intervention Team (Cit) Model: An Exploratory Study Of Program Effectiveness And Institutionalization Processes, Megan Magers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study utilized a mixed-methods strategy to examine the effectiveness, diffusion, and institutionalization of the Memphis Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model. To evaluate the effectiveness of the training component of the CIT model, a panel research design was employed in which a sample of 179 law enforcement officers and 100 correctional officers in nine Florida counties were surveyed on the first day of training (pretest), the last day of training (posttest), and one month following their completion of CIT training (follow-up). These surveys measured the extent to which CIT training achieved several officer-level objectives, including increased knowledge of mental …

The Third Sector Is Missing, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This article offers a detailed critique of Antonin Wagner's (2012) discussion of market, state and the intermediate institutions of civil society. It was one of 7-8 articles critiquing Wagner's previously published piece. It is argued that Wagner's perspective dissolves the third sector into a set of phenomena subordinate to markets and states; that the third sector essentially dissolves into market and state components. The article also offers an outline for a broader, multi-faceted third sector.

Evaluation Of The Live Release Rate Formula & Implementation: Example Analysis Of The Effects Of Mandatory Spay/Neuter Laws On Intake At Shelters Within Dallas, Tx, Amanda Laskoe

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

It is estimated that shelters spend $1 billion annually dealing with unwanted animals (Frank & Carlisle-Frank, 2007). Approximately six to eight million cats and dogs enter U.S. shelters each year, and three to four million of these animals are then euthanized (HSUS, 2009). These are staggering statistics, yet in the early nineties, euthanasia estimates ranged from seven to seventeen million dogs/cats annually (Frank & Carlisle-Frank, 2011). Such improvements have resulted from a greater understanding of, and resources being dedicated to, the issue. Unfortunately, the rate of decline for euthanasia has slowed because programs have not been accurately targeted toward animal …

Subordinate-Supervisor Communication: Junior Naval Officer Feelings And Obstacles When Communicating Up The Chain Of Command, Neva R. Fuentes

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Research on subordinate-supervisor communication has revealed that employees in civilian organizations often stay silent about workplace problems. Comfort levels between subordinates and supervisors, was a major factor to this silence. Currently, there exists very little literature on upward communication from subordinate to supervisor amongst U.S. Naval Officers. The purpose of this thesis was to explore Junior Officer (JO) feelings and perceived obstacles about communicating up the chain of command with senior officers. Interview questions from a previous study (Milliken, Morrison, & Hewlin, 2003) on subordinate-supervisor communication were adapted for an electronic survey and used to explore JO feelings and perceived …

Eyes Wide Open: Learning As Strategy Under Conditions Of Complexity And Uncertainty, Patricia Patrizi, Elizabeth Heid Thompson, Julia Coffman, Tanya Beer

The Foundation Review

· Foundation strategy is hampered by a failure to recognize and engage with the complexity and uncertainty surrounding foundation work. This article identifies three common “traps” that hinder foundation capacity to learn and adapt: 1) linearity and certainty bias; 2) the autopilot effect; and 3) indicator blindness.

· This article urges foundations to alter their mindset, questions, and processes to foster a more committed approach to strategy and adaptation. In essence, it argues for learning as strategy.

· This article draws on literature from systems theory, business strategy, and philanthropic practice as well as data from foundation benchmarking surveys.

Policing, Crime, And Legitimacy In New York And Los Angeles: The Social And Political Contexts Of Two Historic Crime Declines, Jeffrey Fagan, John Macdonald

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter tells the story of policing, crime, and the search for legitimacy over the past two decades in Los Angeles and New York City. Throughout this complex political, normative, and legal landscape, crime rates dropped dramatically in each city to levels not seen since the early 1960s. The chapter begins with a discussion of the evolution of policing in the two cities, assessing reciprocal and dynamic changes that reflected both the crises of crime epidemics and crises within the police. Next, it examines the role of litigation on the evolution of policing. Policing regimes in each city were challenged …

Shifting Diversity Perspectives And New Avenues For Representative Bureaucracy, Nicole M. Elias

Publications and Research

This work explores the meaning of diversity for bureaucratic representation. In light of the United States becoming an increasingly racially and ethnically diverse society, attitudes and approaches toward diversity are likewise shifting. It is important to consider the way we think and talk about diverse representation, which in turn, contributes to different actions and policies within federal agencies. To evaluate this process of meaning-making, federal policy seeking to increase representation in the following Executive Orders: 13078, 13163, 13171, 13518, 13548, and 13585 is analyzed. Prime emphasis is devoted to the most recent and comprehensive efforts, Executive Order 13583: Establishing a …

The Paradox Of “Acting Globally While Thinking Locally”: Discordance In Climate Change Adaption Policy, Daniel A. Mazmanian, John L. Jurewitz, Hal T. Nelson

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

The paradox motivating this article is why California has acted globally by enacting a comprehensive mitigation policy to reduce the emissions of Greenhouse gases, a true public good since the benefits will be shared across the planet, but has not mustered the will to act locally through the adoption of an equally comprehensive adaptation policy for the state to protect its own public and private assets and interests. We attempt to explain the paradox by identifying what it is that differentiates climate change adaptation from mitigation, both substantively and politically. The paradox notwithstanding, we identify several imaginable adaptation policies and …

Clackamas County 2011-2012 Diversity Assessment (Phase I), Masami Nishishiba, Amanda Shannahan, Bonnie Crawford, Chad Stover, Wongkang Lee

Center for Public Service Publications and Reports

Clackamas County conducted its first diversity assessment in 2001. Since then, the County has taken significant steps to promote diversity within the organization, including the creation of a Diversity and Inclusion Manager position. This 2011-2012 assessment is the first phase of the County’s attempt to evaluate its current diversity climate and the effectiveness of its diversity efforts.

Results in this report are based on data collected from February to April 2012. In July 2012, after the data collection of this phase I assessment process, the Clackamas County Board of County Commissioners adopted a resolution titled ”Valuing Diversity in Clackamas County.” …

Limiting The Effects Of Issue Networks & The Iron Triangle: Strategies For Creating Positive Organizational Culture & Boosting Innovation In The Public Sector, Kyla Pitts-Zevin

Student Theses and Dissertations

Positive organizational culture is beneficial to organizations and fosters innovation (Spreitzer 2012) (Kotrba 2010). Innovation contributes to organizational sustainability, efficiency and performance (Kohli & Mulgan 2010). I argue that the public sector faces unique challenges in building and sustaining a positive organizational culture and thus innovation is stifled. These challenges that public organizations face are due, at least in part, to the effects of issue networks and the iron triangle. Such obstacles include (1) a constantly changing environment, (2) serving multiple constituencies, (3) an increased emphasis on monetary efficiency at the expense of programmatic quality, (4) hierarchical cultures and (5) …

The Neglected Minority: Interviews With Successful Community College Students From Poverty, Heather Hollifield-Hoyle

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Poverty in the US is growing at an alarming rate. The current economic climate demands higher education to embrace the economic diversity of all students and to prepare them, regardless of economic class, for a globally competitive workplace. Unfortunately, the higher education community is not as adept at serving low-income students, as it is middle- and upper- income students. Low-income students are less likely than their more affluent peers to enroll in college or graduate. Employing qualitative narrative methods, this dissertation explores the factors that contributed to the persistence and success of 18, low-income, community college students. This study addresses …

دور أساليب المحاسبة الادارية الاستراتيجية في خدمة الادارات الاستراتيجية للمنظمات المعاصرة في العراق, حمزة صادق حسوني

Muthanna Journal of Administrative and Economics Sciences

تطبيق الإدارة الاستراتيجية للمؤسسات العراقية، من خلال دراسة هذه الأساليب والتقنيات، ومن ثم هذا الموضوع في الميدان من خلال توزيع – هذه الدراسة تهدف إلى إدخال أساليب وتقنيات المحاسبة الإدارية الاستراتيجية ودورها في خدمة أهداف إدارة المعاصرة الاستبيان في بعض الشركات. استخدمنا المنهج الوصفي التحليلي في الجزء النظري من الدراسة، حيث حاولنا أن تبين أهم الأفكار حول موضوع المحاسبة الإدارية الاستراتيجية وأساليب وتقنيات، واستخدمنا نهج تطبيق، حيث كنا استبيان المسح إلى جمع البيانات من تطبيق الشركات (7) الصناعية العراقية مع (45) الأفراد. وخلصت الدراسة إلى العديد من الحقائق مع مثل هذا الاتجاه من الشركات نحو استخدام وتطبيق المفاهيم الاستراتيجية في …

Deepwater, Deep Ties, Deep Trouble: A State-Corporate Environmental Crime Analysis Of The 2010 Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill, Elizabeth A. Bradshaw

Dissertations

The 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill was one of the worst environmental disasters of all time. Using the concept of state-corporate environmental crime, this project applies a case study analysis of secondary data sources including publicly available government reports, corporate documents, academic sources and journalistic accounts to examine the causes of the blowout and the response to the spill. Building on Michalowski and Kramer’s Integrated Theoretical Model of State-Corporate Crime, this study introduces an additional level of analysis- that of the industry- between the organizational and institutional levels.

The causes of the Deepwater Horizon explosion are rooted both in …

Advancing A Qualitative-Based Research Construct: Methods And Applications, Chien-Tsung Lu, Jennifer Kirschner, Brent D. Bowen, Erin E. Bowen

Aviation Technology Faculty and Staff Publications

A research framework, or construct, provides researchers with generally accepted guidelines to organize scholarly efforts and foster methodological rigor. Over time, many qualitative research frameworks have become fully vetted and recognized, including action research, grounded theory, and phenomenology, among many others. The Policy Research Construct has also evolved over the last decade into a refined framework for use in qualitative and mixed method studies. This paper continues to define the PRC and includes a meta-review of multiple applications of the PRC to examine policy-related research questions, as well as organizational change and program effectiveness research.

Batterers' Perception Of Treatment Non-Completion, Zoila Gordon

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine reasons why batterers drop out of batterers’ intervention programs. A qualitative design was utilized within the framework of Gove’s Prime Physical Theory, Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory and Braithwaite’s Reintegrative Shaming Theory. Data collection included interviewing a sample of 22 court mandated male batterers, who had initially dropped out of treatment and had been reinstated. Participants were from a diverse background. Results indicated five key themes that emerged from the batterers’ responses: (1) An overall lack of trust toward the legal system which greatly contributed to anger upon entering group; (2) a lack of …

An Audio-Visual Ethnographic Case Study Of International, Rural, Nonprofit Public Relations Geared Towards Sustainable Development, A. Chase Mitchell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes nonprofit public relations and its relationship to development communication. It evaluates previous attempts to integrate the two fields for development purposes. The author then offers an alternative approach, a so-called public relations for community development (PRCD) model.

The PRCD model is then tested in the form of a case studyùincluding digitally recorded video interviews and observationùon Warm Heart Worldwide, Inc. (WHW), an American-founded and operated nongovernment organization (NGO) in Phrao District, northern Thailand. The study aims to identify which elements of the PRCD approach WHW adheres to, and perceived efficacy of community development as a result. …

The Impact Of Citizens' Knowledge On Public Administration: Exploring The Links In Three Social Movements, Vadym Pyrozhenko

Public Administration - Dissertations

The dissertation develops a conceptual framework linking social knowledge and public administration. Social knowledge is understood broadly as the knowledge used by people in various roles, including experts, ordinary citizens, and public officials, to solve social problems. Social movement knowledge is examined as one particular type of social knowledge. The conceptual framework used to study the relationship between social movement knowledge and public administration is a combination of several literatures: citizen participation, civic innovations, community of practice, policy learning, and knowledge production in social movements. The framework connects social movement, policy expert, and administrative knowledge through the processes of social, …