Digital Commons Network^™

Sami Matters (Summer 2004), Center For Evidence Based Practices

SAMI Matters

A newsletter of the Ohio Substance Abuse and Mental Illness Coordinating Center of Excellence (SAMI CCOE). The SAMI CCOE is a partnership between the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Research Institute at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) and the Department of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine, CWRU. The partnership is in collaboration with the Ohio Department of Mental Health.

Making Tanf Work: Organizational Restructuring, Staff Buy-In, And Performance Monitoring In Local Implementation, Frank Ridzi

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

While research suggests that staff resistance to change and intentional subversion have hampered prior welfare reform efforts, this does not appear to be the case for the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). This paper draws on data from a study of East County, New York to explicate the mechanisms that have enabled the unprecedented transformation in local implementation practice in this case. Interviews, participant observation, and textual analysis of legislative and program documents identify new program creation, staff buy-in, and the environment created by stern performance measures as instrumental in bringing about the PRWORA's successful implementation …

Article 1 And Article 2a: Changes In The Uniform Commercial Code Regarding General Provisions Of Sales And Leases, John Krahmer, Henry Gabriel

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Greek Libraries And Team Working: The Survey And Results (Poster), Anthi Katsirikou

Proceedings of the IATUL Conferences

No abstract provided.

Sustaining Innovation In Career And Technical Education, Brenda S. Clark

Dissertations

There has been little research done in education to determine what makes programs sustainable once the person who started the program has left or funding has decreased or disappeared. Innovative and successful programs are frequently started only to close or to reach a dead end. This study will seek to determine what components are necessary to sustain and grow a Career and Technical Education program. The primary audiences for the research study will be community college and university teacher preparation departments and career and technical education departments.

A survey was sent to Occupational Education Studies (OES) students and to OES …

Institutionalization Of Women's Studies Programs: The Relationship Of Program Structure To Long-Term Viability, Ann Froines

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined the institutional viability of three interdisciplinary women's studies programs in public universities to determine whether interdisciplinary programs are marginal or fragile. The research question has three related parts: (a) What factors influence assessments of institutional viability? (b) do assessments of institutional viability vary significantly according to differences in program structure? and (c) what strategies have emerged to maintain program viability over the next ten or 20 years?

A conceptual framework of three domains was utilized in this qualitative case study: (a) program history, (b) organizational effectiveness of program, and (c) alliances built by program leaders. Organizational effectiveness …

June 2004

NASIG Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Stripping To The Undercoat: A Review And Reflections On A Piece Of Organization Theatre, Timothy Adrian Robert Clark, Iain Mangham

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this article, we review one 'tailor-made play', one piece of organization theatre called Varnishing the Truth. We then reflect on the questions we asked of ourselves while watching this performance and reviewing the video of it: how does this activity relate to its claimed theoretical foundations (Boal's forum theatre)? Is forum theatre an appropriate model for organization theatre? Can 'things be made to move' by an activity such as the one to which we were an audience? In the process of answering these questions, we emphasize the reductive adoption of radical techniques (that is, Boal's forum theatre); the depoliticization …

The Future Of Transportation Education: A Needs Assessment Of The Transportation Management Program At San José State University, Mti Report 03-01, Linda Valenty

Mineta Transportation Institute

This research provides a comprehensive assessment of needs for the Graduate Transportation Management Program at San José State University. The study was commissioned by the Mineta Transportation Institute to examine the current graduate program in Transportation Management, including a Master of Science in Transportation Management and a Graduate Certificate in Transportation Management. The comprehensive needs assessment report investigates the best course for the future of the transportation management program at SJSU and provides advice regarding the manner by which the SJSU program may best proceed to meet the graduate education needs of transportation professionals. To achieve these ends, the overall …

Site-Based Management: A Principal's Strategy For Success, Maria Gioffre

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this study was to determine effective leadership strategies that are the driving force behind the success of site-based management. The intent was to identify key elements that impart some direction to help principals attain strategies that will boost site-based management and its potential to improve the overall quality of educational achievement. It draws on an extensive literature review and includes results from a teacher survey, observations, and informal interviews. The results reported that the respondents generally agreed with the research that presents leadership strategies, which tend to enhance the effectiveness of site-based management. The analysis suggests that …

Library Collaboration: What Makes It Work? (Keynote Paper), Murray Shepherd

Proceedings of the IATUL Conferences

In previous papers delivered at IATUL Conferences, I described the TriUniversity Group (TUG) library collaboration. I spoke of the advantages and reported that three academic libraries, large (University of Waterloo) medium (University of Guelph) and small (Wilfrid Laurier University) were working together creatively to address a number of issues: • Remote storage of little used library materials, • Development of a web-based, unified and integrated online “catalogue”, • Joint purchases of online resources, and • Rationalization of information resources This pioneering collaborative undertaking, initiated in 1995, is now widely emulated, with some success. The TUG librarians found that collaboration is …

[2004-05-20] Minutes Of A Joint Meeting Of The Board Of Visitors Of Virginia Commonwealth University And The Board Of Directors Of The Virginia Commonwealth University Health System Authority Thursday, May, 20, 2004., Virginia Commonwealth University. Board Of Visitors

VCU Board of Visitors Minutes

Official minutes of the VCU Board of Visitors and its Executive Committee.

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 Study Of The Renaissance Program In A High School, Christopher J. Nowak

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and validity of the Renaissance Program in a high school. The study involved the gathering of statistical data and conducting objective interviews. The resulting information provides the administration and the reader with an understanding of the importance of student motivational programs.

The focus of the study was to evaluate the change in performance of specific student indicators: attendance rates, dropout rates, discipline incidences, and motivation connected with grade retention rate, subject failure, and national honor society membership. The study obtained information on these indicators through statistical data from administration pertaining …

What's A Judge To Do? Remedying The Remedy In Institutional Reform Litigation, A Review Of Democracy By Decree: What Happens When Courts Run Government By Ross Sandler And David Schoenbrod; Yale University Press (2003), Susan Poser

Nebraska College of Law: Faculty Publications

A review of Democracy by Decree: What Happens When Courts Run Government by Ross Sandler and David Schoenbrod; Yale University Press (2003), in which it is questioned whether judges have the legitimacy and the capacity to oversee the remedial phase of institutional reform litigation.

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”.

Commencement Convocation Program, Tampa Campus, May 1, 2004, University Of South Florida

USF Graduation and Convocation Programs

King O'Neal Scholars - Cindy Bethel, Christopher Hagemo, Olumide Olulade, Ralph Skibinski, Brad Decker, Oluwaseun Akinbo, Stephanie Alford, Ricardo Berrios, Susan Kremmel, Erin Laureano, Roxanna Paulin, Patricia Summers, and Steffanie Wilson; Honorary Doctorate of Visual and Performing Arts - Dick Hyman; Honorary Doctorate of Engineering and Military Science - General Tommy Franks; President's Fellow Medallion - Lee Bird Leavengood; President's Fellow Medallion - Victor Leavengood; Outstanding Senior - Julia Lucille Licorish

Accident And Injury Prevention: The Effects Of Job Factors And Employee Behaviors, Suzaane Dobbs

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Virtually all organizations are concerned about employee safety and the prevention of workplace accidents, but maybe unaware that most accidents are the cause of unsafe employee behaviors. In this study, one company in particular wanted to know where, when, how, and why accidents were occurring in its plant. Accidents of the past three years were content analyzed. The results show that 87.4% of the accidents were due to unsafe behaviors. The highest absolute frequency of accidents occurs in the die cast area, while the highest relative rate of accidents occurs in the furnace room. The type of accident that occurs …

Infotech Update, Volume 13, Number 3, May/June 2004, American Institute Of Certified Public Accountants. Information Technology Section

Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Employees' Perceptions Of Barriers In E-Learning : The Relationship Among Barriers, Demographics, And E-Learning Self-Efficacy., Penina Mungania 1974-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this empirical study was to examine the types of e-learning barriers and to establish the nature of relationships among (a) barriers perceived by employee e-learners in the process of starting, continuing, and completing online training; (b) demographic variables; (c) background characteristics; and (d) e-learning self-efficacy. The population was comprised of employees (N = 4807; n = 865) who had participated in Web-based training delivered 100 percent online. Convenient samples of employees were drawn from seven organizations representing (a) IT Manufacturing, (b) Oil Exploration & Manufacturing, (c) Public School District, (d) Health insurance, (e) Wholesale Distribution, (f) IT …

A Tale Of Two Colleges: The Fiscal Crisis Of The 1990'S Strategies For Managing In Uncertainty, Penelope Wheeler Stohn Brouwer

Student Scholarship

Using a case methodology this study focuses on how two state colleges responded to fiscal stress in the decade of the 1990's, a period of national recession and political change for public higher education. Informed by archival information, fiscal data and interviews with campus decision makers, this work tells the story of how these two campuses addressed fiscal decline. The recollections and perceptions of those who played a role in crafting and implementing response to change are analyzed as efficiency and effectiveness strategies that comprised the unique approach taken by each college. "Shaw College" and "Dalton College" were deliberately chosen …

Institutionalism And Transformational Leadership: Exploring Linkages Between The Two Perspectives, Margaret L. Drugovich

Student Scholarship

This research explored the ways in which the contemporary notion of transformational leadership might extend the neoinstitutional approach to organizational change and politics. The role of leadership in converting deeply taken-for-granted, change-impeding structures and practices, such as shared governance, into ones that facilitate organizational adaptation in the highly institutionalized field of liberal arts colleges was explored. It was hypothesized that the president’s leadership style would impact institutional outcomes such as financial viability, indices of quality, and curricular innovation by its effect on in-place consensus structures. It was further hypothesized that the effect of leadership on these outcomes would be moderated …

An Examination Of The Influence Of The Und Summer Camp Program Experience On New Students' Decisions To Attend The University Of North Dakota, Deborah R. Melby

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions of new first-year students who enrolled at the University of North Dakota after participating in a summer camp. The sample of subjects was selected from nine sections of the Introduction into University Life course at the University of North Dakota. A total of 142 subjects participated in the study, but focused on the 23 subjects who responded that the summer camp experience was “considerable” or “somewhat” influential in their decision to attend and enroll at the University of North Dakota.

All nine instructors of the Introduction into University Life course …

Change On The Frontlines: A Perspective From The Trenches, Manoj Nakra

Student Scholarship

This research attempts to correlate outcomes of the change process as changes in work behaviors\, the individual response to change on the frontlines of an organization\, in terms of change content and process attributes. A goal of the research was to use existing research to develop an integrated understanding of what happens when change is implemented by understanding potential mechanisms that may be involved in influencing successful change. A causal model of organizational change is developed\, based upon the theory of planned behavior\, with attitude as a precursor to changes in work routines\, and causal linkages are hypothesized via three …

Esop Accounts, Age, And Seniority: Effect On Work Related Behavior At Four Small Companies, Raymond A. Lancaster

Student Scholarship

The present study examined employees' work related behavior at four compnaies with Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). The study's three hypotheses were: if a worker perceived he/she had a substantial economic interest in the firm through the ESOP, as the employee approached retirement age, or as the employee's years of service increased; then the employee's work related behavior would be positively affected. Companies participating in the study were small (annual revenues of $55 million or less), profitable (in at least four of the last five years), privately owned (no company shares traded in public markets), operated in the manufacturing sector, …

Jan'l Passe Li Passe: The Haitian Organization In The American Landscape, Nesly Metayer

Student Scholarship

For the purpose of this research I have conducted four focus groups with a total of twenty four participants in two distinct geographical areas of the US and within two distinct organizations. I was amazed to realize while doing the data coding and data analysis that in the absence of geographical clues it was almost impossible to distinguish the focus groups from each other. How is it possible that such disparate groups of people from different educational and professional backgrounds located in such different social environments have exactly the same experience in the US-based Haitian organization? Why is it that …

Market Efficiency And Rationality: The Peculiar Case Of Baseball, Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein

Michigan Law Review

In this lively book, Michael Lewis explores a topic that would seem of interest only to sports fans: how Billy Beane, the charismatic general manager of the Oakland Athletics, turned his baseball team around using, of all things, statistics. What next - an inspirational tale about superior database management? But there are some general lessons in Lewis's book that make it worth the attention of people who do not know the difference between a slider and a screwball (a group that, unfortunately, includes many lawyers and law professors). Those lessons have to do, above all, with the limits of human …

Organizational Structure And The Creative Process, Edward C. Bowen Edd

Dissertations

A creative edge can be a powerful source of competitive advantage in business, in war, in the arts, in science, and in life. In fact, creativity, innovation and the ability to adapt and change organizational structures in response to an increasingly fast-paced and competitive business environment are increasingly seen as essential for the success of many organizations. A current trend in organizational theory associates increases in formalization and both horizontal and vertical integration with decreases in an organization's ability to innovate and adapt. Consequently, organizational change efforts often involve moving from traditional, hierarchical structures toward flatter, more flexible types of …

Implementing Student Learning Outcomes: The Link To Accreditation In California Community Colleges, Lori Waite Edd

Dissertations

As the public demands accountability in higher education, regional accrediting bodies are under pressure from external governmental agencies, as well as from key stakeholders, to demonstrate their effectiveness and more specifically, provide evidence of student learning. All regional accrediting agencies now have incorporated some level of student learning outcomes into their criteria for reaffirmation of accreditation. This case study describes how three California public community colleges are implementing student learning outcomes on their campuses. Administrators, faculty and staff were interviewed about perceptions and insights related to learning outcomes. Artifact analysis was conducted to establish credibility and data triangulation. Findings suggest …

Leadership Frames Of Presidents Of Master I Higher Education Institutions, Michael L. Monahan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study examined the leadership styles of presidents at Master's I institutions as defined by the Carnegie Foundation (2001), and called the "Middle Child of Public Higher Education". The entire population of 494 presidents was surveyed and a response rate of 51.4% was obtained. This study examined the relationships between leadership style and specific demographic variables.;Bolman and Deal devised a four-frame model that included the structural, human resource, political, and symbolic leadership frames. These frames, or windows, allow users to view the world and problems from various perspectives. The structural frame relates to hierarchy and formal rules. The human resource …