Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Enabling School Structures On The Degree Of Internal School Change As Measured By The Implementation Of Professional Learning Communities, Joseph Tylus

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract THE IMPACT OF ENABLING SCHOOL STRUCTURES ON THE DEGREE OF INTERNAL SCHOOL CHANGE AS MEASURED BY THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES By Joseph D. Tylus, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009 Major Director: Dr. William C. Bosher Distinguished Professor, G. Wilder School of Policy Adjunct Professor, VCU School of Education This non-experimental, correlational study looked at the relationship between bureaucratic structures in middle and high schools in bringing about change in individual teacher classroom instructional practices through the centralized …

Building School Connections Through Integrating Extracurricular Programs, Grete E. Gerber

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop an integrated extracurricular program and evaluate its effectiveness on improving middle school students' emotional connectedness to the school. The integrated extracurricular program provided an opportunity for a diverse group of students to work cooperatively as a team toward a common goal.

The program's first extracurricular activity was a Haunted House event which was utilized for this study. Participants in the study included 232 students and 21 staff members. Two separate surveys were administered to the student and staff participants. Each survey resulted in general opinions about the effectiveness of the integrated extracurricular …

Factors In The Implementation Of Online Courses Of Study In Selected Community Colleges In Mississippi, Kenneth Lamar Done

Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to examine administrators’ attitudes toward the significant factors for facilitating the implementation of online courses at select community colleges in Mississippi. The population for this study included all presidents, vice presidents, deans, business managers, directors of campus technology, and distance learning coordinators at the select community colleges in Mississippi. The total population was 79 administrators. For this study, 79 questionnaires were electronically distributed to the participants, 70 (89%) were returned. 1 (2%) was excluded due to incomplete answers. 69 questionnaires (87%) were analyzed and used for this study. The findings show that in terms of relationships …

Achieving Solution Success: An Investigation Of User Participation Approaches, Angela Mattia

Theses and Dissertations

User participation and its relationship to system success have been discussed in the information systems (IS) literature from many theoretical and practical perspectives. In reality, most of this discussion is grounded in empirical research that has yielded mixed results on the importance of user participation and its relationship to system success. The goal of this dissertation is to extend the line of inquiry into user participation during information system development by providing information systems researchers and IS practitioners with both a valid theoretical and practical investigation of a successful IS solution. This investigation organizes the study within a descriptive model …

Building And Testing Theory On The Role Of It In The Relationship Between Power And Performance: Implementing Enterprise Performance Management In The Organization, Mitchell Wenger

Theses and Dissertations

This research builds on the literature about power and performance, offering new theory that extends the literature by accounting for the transformational effects of information technology. The role of information technology in the relationship between organizational power and performance is unclear in the literature. Management literature offers theories describing the relationship between power and performance. IS literature investigates the relationship between information technology (IT) and power and between information systems technology and performance, but is silent on the impact of IT on the relationship between power and performance. The nature of this relationship – direct, moderating, or indirect – is …

Project Management, Valon Fetahu

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Stakeholder Perceptions Of Strategic Planning In Higher Education: A Comparative Case Study Of Two Institutions, Eric S. Burgess

Theses and Dissertations

This research study assesses the effectiveness of the strategic planning initiatives at two small public institutions of higher education in the Midwestern United States that have similar histories, demographics, and missions. It is a comparative case study that reviews, analyzes, and compares stakeholder perceptions of the strategic planning processes at the selected institutions. Following a thorough literature review, qualitative methods of observation, interviewing, and grounded theory development are utilized to answer the following research question: What are the faculty and administrator perceptions of strategic planning as it occurred at the selected institutions? The study provides significant evidence verifying how stakeholders …

Data Quality-A Key To Successfully Implementing Ecss, Craig A. Lane

Theses and Dissertations

In response to the Expeditionary Logistics for the 21st Century (eLog21) campaign initiatives published in 2003, the United States Air Force (USAF) pursued the acquisition of technology to help transform its logistics processes. With process mapping complete and a proposed roll-out schedule, forward progress towards full implementation of the Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS) continues. As a key enabler to achieving eLog21 initiatives, implementing ECSS will help transform current USAF logistics business processes. Integrating more than 450 legacy systems, and with a projected end-state in excess of 750,000 primary, secondary, and tertiary users, ECSS is the largest enterprise resource planning …

Achieving Alignment: An Analysis Of Enterprise Architecture Best Practices Within The United States Air Force, Michael A. Fetters

Theses and Dissertations

This research uncovers areas of best practices that support achieving alignment between an organization’s Information Technology (IT) and its business processes. One principal finding of this effort revealed that the means used to achieve alignment exists within the effective application of Enterprise Architecture (EA), a common practice found throughout the Federal Government, Department of Defense, and the Air Force. EA is the tool used to achieve alignment; likewise, the reason for developing IT architecture is to achieve alignment of IT investments and mission objectives. This research groups the best practices into vision, identification, framework, and governance. Interestingly, these practices relate …

Classification Of Schedule Management Barriers Through Concept Mapping, Gregory W. Voth

Theses and Dissertations

Barriers to adoption of schedule management processes are a matter of serious concern to the acquisition community. Schedule management has been widely accepted to contribute to the successful execution of complicated system development processes since the 1950s. However, studies of recent acquisition failures illustrate that over the last 15 years, there has been significant internal resistance to the adoption of schedule management processes. This exploratory effort used concept mapping to identify and classify the types of barriers existing in the Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC). A series of open-ended questions were posed to four experienced program managers in ASC. Units of …

The Correlation Of Human Capital On Costs Of Air Force Acquisition Programs, Stephen E. Gray

Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies have linked human capital with performance. The studies have shown performance, measured as output, of a firm can be increased by adding more personnel and/or increasing education levels. This research uses the Cobb-Douglas Production function to build upon that relationship of inputs to outputs. The output in this study is the average cost overrun of Aeronautical Systems Center research, development, test, and evaluation contracts managed from 1994 to 2008. The inputs are the numbers of military/government employee financial managers, program managers, engineers, rated personnel, and military/government employees in those career fields possessing a graduate degree or higher. A …

Application Of Reliability And Linear Regression To Enterprise Architecture In Support Of The Us Air Force's Capability Review And Risk Assessment, Peter C. Mastro, Richard L. Orcutt

Theses and Dissertations

This research explored the use of modeling and enterprise architecture in the analysis of Air Force Capabilities. The Air Force accomplishes this through the Capability Review and Risk Assessment (CRRA). The CRRA is currently performed by building architectures which contain Process Sequence Models (PSMs). PSMs are scored by Subject Matter Experts to determine the probability of successfully completing the mission they model and ultimately to determine the risk associated to Air Force capabilities. Two findings were identified. The first is that creating additional architectural viewpoints, some of which are currently being proposed for version 2.0 of the DoD Architecture Framework, …

An Assessment Of The Air Force Weather Agency's Readiness For Knowledge Management Initiatives, Daniel Tucker

Theses and Dissertations

The successful implementation of knowledge management (KM) initiatives requires a level of commitment and preparedness by the organization that is commensurate with the expected results. An organization must be willing to allocate the necessary resources to ensure their readiness to undertake new KM projects. The purpose of this study is to review AFWA’s organizational culture and measure its propensity for accepting KM initiatives. The study uses empirically validated constructs to evaluate and assess the organization’s people, culture, climate, processes and attitudes as they relate to KM. This research was conducted using semi-structured interviews to elicit respondents’ views about KM practices. …

Modernizing A Preventive Maintenance Strategy For Facility And Infrastructure Maintenance, Ross E. Dotzlaf

Theses and Dissertations

Preventive maintenance (PM) is defined as regularly scheduled maintenance actions based on average failure rates. A properly implemented PM strategy can provide many benefits to an organization in terms of extending equipment life, optimizing resource expenditures, and balancing work schedules. Periodic evaluation of a PM strategy can help identify ways to improve efficiencies and maximize effectiveness. This research effort was accomplished by performing a case study of the United States Air Force’s infrastructure and facility PM program known as the Recurring Work Program (RWP). The methodology consisted of two phases. The first phase, intended to develop an understanding of the …

Strategic Management Of Sme Construction Companies In Kosovo, Lulzim Beqiri

Theses and Dissertations

Now days there are a lot of books, journals, international conferences in regards of Strategic Planning that shows to be a very interesting subject to be discussed and focused our studies in this field.

Kosovo, a part that is a newborn country, as well was release from a communist way of organising economy therefore I thing that we do not have that much experience in strategic management of Small and Medium Size (SME) companies, and my study is focused on strategic management of SME construction Companies in Kosovo as a contemporary need of development in construction field.

The SME have …

A Phenomenological Study Of Nurse Clinicians' Participation In An Evidence-Based Practice Clinical Research Fellowship Program, Cheryl A. Hernandez

Theses and Dissertations

Despite an abundance of scientific evidence to ensure nurse clinicians deliver the highest quality of care to achieve optimal outcomes for patients, barriers and challenges exist that prevent adoption of this evidence into routine clinical practice. Evidence-Based Practice Clinical Research Fellowship Programs (EBP CRFP) are designed and implemented to facilitate the adoption of scientific evidence into clinical nursing practice; however, these programs have not been adequately evaluated in terms of the impact of the program on participants, their clinical practice, and the organization. The purpose of this hermeneutical phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of nurse clinicians who …

An Evaluation Of Congruency Of Nursing Staff Values And Organizational Vincentian Values, Beverly S. Quaye

Theses and Dissertations

This case study was an exploration of values-congruence between personal and organizational values in a healthcare setting. Previous research has found that alignment between the two improves organizational effectiveness. The setting was a 384-bed urban Catholic hospital with Vincentian values. The efficacy of Vincentian values is found only in the academic and religious literature, not in that of healthcare. Published studies on registered nurses' values focus primarily on ethical reasoning and decision making. Employee values were defined using Rokeach's conceptual model for instrumental and terminal values. Both are based on enduring beliefs with specific modes of conduct or end-states of …

Diversity Congruency Within Organizations: The Relationship Among Emotional Intelligence, Personality Structure, Ethnic Identity, Organizational Context And Perceptions Of Organizational Diversity, David Hurlic

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the relationship among Emotional Intelligence (EI) (consisting of perception and appraisal, facilitating thinking, understanding emotions, and regulating emotions), Personality Structure (FFM) (consisting of extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experiences), Ethnic Identity, Organizational Context (OC), and Perceptions of Organizational Diversity. It is hoped that by examining the impact of individual personality structures, as well as, ethnic identity and organizational context as precursors to individual perceptions between EI, Personality Structure, and diversity and affirmative action, a more coherent method of analysis is created allowing organizations to identify specific factors contributing to affirmative action and diversity program acceptance …

The Influence Of Mission Statements On Select Aspects Of Organizational Decision Making By Executive Directors Of California State University Nonprofit Charitable Foundations, Brian M. Nowlin

Theses and Dissertations

Organizations of all types devote time, resources and attention in pursuit of the perfect mission statement. Mission statements may serve to provide purpose, identity and direction to those both internal and external to an organization. After an organizational mission statement is adopted, the totality of benefit is not always clear. This dissertation examines what, if any, influence mission statements have with respect to leader decision making. More specifically, this dissertation focuses on Executive Directors of California State University nonprofit charitable foundations and what, if any, influence the mission statement of their organization may have on their decision making. In order …

Latino Parents' Perceptions Of Their Involvement In Their Children's Secondary Education And The College Preparation Process, Ronald C. Heredia

Theses and Dissertations

Involvement of Latino parents in their children's education and college preparation process is integral to the educational success of Latino students. This two-phase, mixed methods study explored the perspectives of Latino parents about their involvement in their children's education and college preparation process. First, archival data of the Path to College organization was examined for this study. Archival data were questionnaires completed by 132 Latino parents. Additionally, 5 separate semi-structured, face-to-face, focus groups were conducted with a sub-sample of 23 parents who had completed the questionnaire for the Path to College. All focus groups were conducted during the period of …

Success Strategies Of High Achieving Women: A Qualitative Phenomenological Investigation, Leslie Ann Evans

Theses and Dissertations

According to the latest figures from the U.S. Labor Department, 50% of all managerial posts are held by women, yet few women hold a top position in their organization. Of the 1,000 largest revenue producing, publicly traded companies in the United States, only 20 are led by a woman. Women hold only 15.7% of all senior executive positions in Fortune 500 companies, yet traditional women's leadership styles of open communication and inclusion have been recognized as appropriate and even best practices. Women climbing the corporate ladder face myriad challenges. In addition to the obstacles they face, the very choices women …

Social Capital Determinants Of Environmentalism In Spatial Context, Kim Marie Steil

Theses and Dissertations

Sociological studies of society-environment interactions are based on a premise that population well-being is dependent on the environment. Here, I argue that not only are people innately connected to the environment, but the environment also bonds people to one another. That is, people have a mutual obligation to one another to care for the environment. An often ignored factor is that individual participation toward protecting and improving the quality of the environment rests upon the local social and spatial context in which the individual is situated. The ability of individuals in a local environment to come together to identify issues, …

Organizational Change In A Higher Education Institution: The Impact Of Increasing International Student Enrollment On University Of Services, Glenda Kim Cousins

Theses and Dissertations

Using a grounded theory approach, this study explored organizational change in higher education, the research examined how direct service staff, directors, and administrators perceived and responded to changes created by increasing international student numbers, and how the organization of Academic and Student Affairs adapted to these changes. The data supported that every person perceived having a certain level of power to influence change but the amount of power depended on an individual's understanding of a situation, persuasiveness in motivating people, relational dynamics with others, and participation within the flow of communication. The study found two processes operating simultaneously as individuals …

Exploring Future Workforce Perceptions Of Leadership And Relationships, Brandon J. Semler

Theses and Dissertations

It is the aim of this study to increase available literature regarding leadership by identifying the most common perceptions of college students about leadership and relationships. With increased understanding of the perceptions of college student regarding leadership and relationships in comparison to definitions of leadership and relationships in current literature Will come improvements in communication strategies that aid in the training of future leaders in the organizational environment. College students at the University of North Dakota were interviewed about their perceptions of leadership and relationships using the focus group method. Qualitative analysis was used to discover common themes among these …

The Effects Of Reputation Threat And Whistle-Blowing Report Source On Chief Audit Executives' Investigation Decisions, Cynthia Guthrie

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the effects of reputation threats and anonymous whistle-blowing channels on Chief Audit Executives’ (CAEs) decisions to investigate whistle-blowing allegations. Participants were 94 CAEs and Deputy CAEs from publicly traded companies in the eastern half of the United States. Participants received whistle-blowing reports from either an anonymous or a non-anonymous source. In the high reputation threat condition the whistle-blowing report alleged that the wrongdoing was perpetrated by the exploitation of substantial weaknesses in internal controls that had been previously evaluated by external auditors and the internal audit function. The report in the lower threat condition alleged that the …

The Performance Effects Of Latent Factors On Assimilation Of Commercial Open-Source Erp Software On Small-Medium Enterprises, Sandra Cereola

Theses and Dissertations

This study tests a theoretical model developed to investigate the impact of assimilation of commercial open source enterprise resource planning software (COSES) in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Specifically, the model explains how the top management team’s (TMT’s) information technology (IT) knowledge and experience impact both assimilation and firm performance. The hypotheses were tested using survey data from SMEs that have implemented COSES. Results from structural equation modeling suggest that SMEs benefit, through higher levels of assimilation and performance, from adopting innovative enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems such as COSES when they have a TMT that has experience with …

Technological Strategic Planning And Globalization Impact: Fine-Tuning Strategic Planning Methodology, Plamen Miltenoff

Theses and Dissertations

Through this research, I sought to determine how technology leadership, as part of academic administration conducts strategic planning in educational technology. The focus in educational technology falls on the various tools of online interaction while the focus on strategic planning falls on SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. Under the impact of globalization, it is expected that the realm of external data necessary for SWOT analysis must shift from within national boundaries to international data gathering, thus providing a realistic assessment and enabling feasible strategic planning in a global economy. The need for revision was based on a review …

A Qualitative And Quantitative Assessment Of Readiness For Organizational Change Literature, Andrew B. Burris

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to take a step in integrating the change literature and accumulate the empirical results using meta-analytic techniques. First, a literature review of existing research on organizational change was conducted. Second, existing models of organizational change were integrated to create a theoretical structure. Third, a meta-analysis was performed to derive the corrected correlation values for each relationship in that structure. Finally, the readiness for change literature was qualitatively assessed. In addition, a quantitative review was done by accumulating the results across 25 studies in an effort to provide a current quantitative assessment of change management …

Project Management Of Road Contruction In Kosova, Vjollca Aliti

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Perceptions Of Female Administrators Regarding The Gender Regimes In Urban Co-Educational Secondary Schools In Uganda, Frances Naluwemba

Theses and Dissertations

Leaders and policy makers in Uganda developed a national strategy of placing female administrators in traditionally male-dominated coeducational secondary schools in the belief that their vision would promote equitable education by changing gender regimes that play in schools. Gender regimes are patterns of gender arrangements that could disadvantage the education of boys or girls (Connell, 2002). The purpose of this study was to discover if female administrators perceived and had developed strategies to change gender regimes in their schools. Participants were 13 female administrators of government-supported coeducational mixed/day secondary schools in Kampala and Wakiso urban districts. Participants ranged in age …