Digital Commons Network^™

Emotional Intelligence And Leadership Practices Among Human Service Program Managers, Cynthia Sims-Vanzant

Doctoral Dissertations

unavailable

Espoused Curriculum And Philosophy And Curriculum And Philosophy-In-Use In A K-12 Public Charter School System, Elizabeth G. Polito

Doctoral Dissertations

unavailable

Transformational Leadership Practices Of Deans And The Perceived Organizational Culture Of United Arab Emirates Public Universities : A Regression Analysis Study, Mouwafac Sidaoui

Doctoral Dissertations

unavailable

Marketing Scholarship: Evolving Research Standards, Karl Boedecker, Fred W. Morgan

Economics, Law, and International Business

Marketing academics endeavor to conduct research that contributes to the development of cutting edge theories and ideas about marketing. At the same time, they try to incorporate these research findings into their classes through the application of theories to the practice of marketing. Even so, marketing scholarship comes under intermittent attack for being arcane and irrelevant for practitioners. To explore this disconnect between theory and practice, we review the evolution of scholarly research in marketing. We identify the various definitions of scholarship that have evolved as business schools have matured. We conclude that marketing academics must make scholarly contributions, variously …

A Broad View Of Systems Analysis And Design, Steven Alter, Glenn J. Browne

Business Analytics and Information Systems

This article presents a broad view of systems analysis and design (SA&D) research. Although SA&D is a critical area of research in the information systems field, relatively little such research has been published in leading IS journals. To point toward increased research opportunities for SA&D work, this article presents a framework that illustrates the broad range of activities within the SA&D area. This framework contrasts with narrower views that consider SA&D to be concerned primarily with software development. The framework positions SA&D activities in a two-dimensional space. We identify theoretical and practical research issues that apply across the full range …

A Study Of The Effect Of Organizational Structure On Employee Satisfaction In Youth-Serving Organizations In The San Francisco Bay Area, Kirah J. Caminos

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the respective effects of mechanistic and organic organizational structures on employee satisfaction. Employees from four youthserving nonprofit organizations participated. The respondents were primarily direct service and administrative professionals in the field, but they also included interns and executive staff. It was hypothesized that satisfaction would be positively correlated with organic organizational structure and negatively correlated with mechanistic organizational structure.

The measuring instrument was a survey questionnaire created for this study. The data were responses to 50 Likert-based questions that assessed three variables: mechanistic structure, organic structure, and employee satisfaction.

The research hypothesis …

A General, But Readily Adaptable Model Of Information System Risk, Steven Alter, Susan A. Sherer

Business Analytics and Information Systems

This article is the first of two whose goal is to advance the discussion of IS risk by addressing limitations of the current IS risk literature. These limitations include:

• inconsistent or unclear definitions of risk,
• limited applicability of risk models,
• frequent omission of the temporal nature of risk, and
• lack of an easily communicated organizing framework for risk factors.

This article presents a general, but broadly adaptable model of system-related risk. The companion article, Volume 14, Article 2[Sherer and Alter, 2004] focuses on IS risk factors and how these factors can be organized.

This article starts by identifying criteria for …

The American Association Of Museums' Accreditation Program: An Analysis Of Benefits Perceived By Museums, Sara Wendt

Master's Theses

This study conducted a mail survey of 210 museum directors whose institutions had undergone accreditation through a program sponsored by the American Association of Museums. The study sought to ascertain directors' perceptions ofthe overall benefit and cost of the program, as well as their perceptions of the degree to which their museums both expected to receive and actually received 16 individually specified benefits. It further sought to determine the extent to which museum size and accreditation history may have impacted their perceptions.

The study found that while the time burden associated with the accreditation process was considered fairly high, most …

The American Worker: Junior Partner In Success And Senior Partner In Failure, Charles B. Craver

University of San Francisco Law Review

Over the past two decades, the United States has enjoyed the greatest sustained economic growth in history. Despite recent stock reversals, the DowJones average has risen ten-fold from 1,000 in 1980 to approximately 10,000 today. Individuals who purchased shares of stock to finance business expansion have reaped the benefits of business success.

Where Enrollment Meets Structure: Understanding Pda Evolution Through Sociotechnological Theory, Jonathan P. Allen

Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Strategy

Sociotechnological theory seeks to understand technology as both material and social artifacts. Actor-Network Theory (ANT) offers an approach to sociotechnological theory that emphasizes a micro-level analysis of political strategies, but has been criticized for not considering larger social and cultural processes. This paper presents an approach to sociotechnological theory that links the enrollment process of ANT with broader social practices, and social group memberships. Two case studies of Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) evolution (Psion, led by David Potter, and Palm, led by Jeff Hawkins) are used to illustrate this approach.

Lean Production And The Internet, Robert Mefford

Finance

In this paper the implications for lean production systems of the Internet are explored. Does the World Wide Web facilitate the implementation of Just-in-Time production systems, or alternatively, can it serve as a substitute for JIT? The possible effects on supply chains, production scheduling, inventory control, procurement, quality improvement, and the workforce are some of the issues addressed. Some case examples of use of the Internet for these purposes are presented. Constraints on the use of the Web to foster leanness are discussed and recommendations for integrating the Internet into production systems offered.

Are The Fundamental Concepts Of Information Systems Mostly About Work Systems?, Steven Alter

Business Analytics and Information Systems

Audience comments about a debate at ICIS200 [Alter et al., 2001] related to ebusiness and the fundamental concepts of information systems noted that the debate was undercut by the lack of agreement about what are the fundamental concepts. As a follow-on to that debate, this article proposes a set of fundamental concepts for information systems. While there is no bullet-proof way to prove that a particular set of concepts captures what is truly fundamental within a diverse and rapidly evolving field, the attempt to identify these concepts challenges the reader to ask “If this isn’t the way to identify fundamental …

Which Life Cycle -- Work System, Information System, Or Software?, Steven Alter

Business Analytics and Information Systems

This article presents the work system life cycle (WSLC) model, according to which a work system, an information system, or a software product passes through one or more iterations of four phases: initiation, development, implementation, and operation and maintenance. Although this descriptive model is both clear enough to understand readily and specific eno ugh to apply easily, it encompasses a variety of other models commonly used to describe information system life cycles, organizational change processes, projects, and the life cycles of software products. The explicit inclusion of both an operation and maintenance phase and iterations allows it to cover both …

Same Words, Different Meanings: Are Basic Is/It Concepts Our Self-Imposed Tower Of Babel?, Steven Alter

Business Analytics and Information Systems

This article began as a response to an exchange of letters concerning the need for more vs. less user participation in IS projects. It grew into an exploration of whether and how ten 1999 CAIS articles use basic IS/IT terms with different meanings and connotations related to the different perspectives of their authors. The article characterizes differences between an IT perspective and a business perspective and categorizes the ten articles accordingly. It then presents numerous quotes from the articles to illustrate differences across the articles in terms of their use of eight basic concepts: system, user, stakeholder, IS project, implementation, …

Changing And Choosing Together: A Case Study On Improving Professional Development And Student Achievement Through A Teacher-Initiated Early Literacy Program, Theresa Connor Molinelli

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to ascertain teacher's perceptions of the success of an early literacy professional development program designed to achieve more meaningful student assessment, facilitate observation of effective teaching practices, promote teacher-centered staff development, and encourage greater teacher collaboration. This research study also examined the extent to which teachers believed that school- and district-administrative support for this program benefited their classroom teaching practices.

Community Foundations Serving Rural Regions: A Study Of Rural-Serving Community Foundations Located In Northern California, Michele B. Finstad

Master's Theses

This research project-a qualitative study with data collected primarily through interviews-was conducted to determine whether there are notable characteristics common to community foundations serving rural regions, and whether these characteristics differ from those of other community foundations in general. The framework developed for this research project was adapted from three empirical studies, each emphasizing specific characteristics related to organizational development and community foundations. The first study (Agard, 1992) examined the administrative, social, strategic, and technical systems of community foundations with regard to growth and change over time at different ages and asset sizes. The second study (Mayer, 1994) addressed the …

Vestry Retreats And Organizational Change In The Episcopal Diocese Of California, Catherine Taylor-Skarica

Master's Theses

A questionnaire was mailed to board officers of churches in the Episcopal Diocese of California asking about retreats, teamwork, and change. The central hypothesis was that officers whose vestries (boards) had gone on retreats in the prior year would report higher teamwork satisfaction and more organizational changes in that year than officers whose vestries had not gone on retreats. If supported, this might point to teamwork as a possible mechanism by which retreats promote change.

Most vestries from which responses were received (86.32%) held vestry retreats within the year before the responses, and most of these were held away from …

A Study Of The Relationship Between Conditions Present In Managers' Families Of Origin And The Behavior Of Managers In Workplace Relationships, Jane Henderson-Loney

Doctoral Dissertations

unavailable

Freedom And Privacy In The Newly Integrated Work Environments, Jonathan P. Allen

Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Strategy

No abstract provided.