Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Producers', Staff Members', And Board Members' Cognitive Frame On Decision Making In An Appalachian Organic Farming Venture, Curt D. Gervich, Max Stephensen Jr., Marc J. Stern

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Sustainable development assistance organizations (SDAOs) aim to help producers of natural resource products move their goods and services to market. This article explores how the cognitive frames held by producers, staff, and board members in an agricultural SDAO in rural Appalachia influence organizational decision-making. This study explores identity, characterization, value, and membership frames. Data collected through semi-structured interviews with growers, staff, and board members reveal that the frames these stakeholders hold lead to the institutionalization of decision-making processes that allow organizational managers to make quick, consistent, and clear decisions while avoiding conflicts among members who hold competing frames. Simultaneously, these …

Disaster Recovery In Rural Communities: A Case Study Of Southwest Louisiana, Deborah Tootle

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This paper provides a descriptive case study to develop a better understanding of the disaster recovery and rebuilding process in the three parishes (counties) in South Louisiana that were hardest hit by Hurricane Rita in 2005. The data come from a number of sources: official documents, news articles, published data, and personal observations. This case study’s implications raise questions about current approaches to disaster recovery. It also suggests strategies for practice, program development, and policy.

From Humor In The Workplace To Humor As A Means Of Healing From Loss, Sheryl Savage

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The role of humor in promoting a climate of creativity in organizations has been the focus of this synthesis. Developing a program to add humor to an organization's culture can open up and encourage people's creativity. In this environment of creativity, effective problem solving can occur and thus lead to needed positive change. This paper explores lay and scholarly research findings on the role of humor in the workplace. There exists both anecdotal and empirical evidence to support the theory of humor's ability to be a tool for creative problem solving and stress reduction, as well as humor's positive effect …

Stakeholders' Perceptions Of Community Engagement In A System-Wide Educational Change Effort: Implications For Building Partnerships., Lindsay K. Nickels

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study should provide insight into stakeholders' perceptions of a system-wide educational partnership focused on a change effort to increase student achievement in a school system located in a large, metropolitan city in the southeastern United States. The importance of partnering to assure that all children are succeeding in school has never been more important to local communities and our nation. Not only are definitions of educational partnerships expanding, but so are the parameters, the players, and the structures. As educational improvement initiatives are put into effect by local, state, and national governments, schools across the country are realizing …

December 12th 2007, Hispanic News

Inland Empire Hispanic News

No abstract provided.

Minutes December 10, 2007

Minutes

No abstract provided.

Pioneers In Twentieth Century Mormon Media: Oral Histories Of Latter-Day Saint Electronic And Public Relations Professionals, Jonice L. Hubbard

Theses and Dissertations

The project consists of three parts: a summary of the research, a collection of sixteen oral histories of Latter-day Saint Electronic Media and Public Relations professionals who contributed to the development and growth of media in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a one-hour documentary film, Pioneers in Mormon Media, which gives a brief history of the development of modern mass communications and its use by the Church. This qualitative study investigates who has been involved in Church media, what projects have been accomplished and provides some explanation as to why the Church uses media. The oral …

Impeding And Facilitating Factors In The Implementation Of Lean Enterprise Methodology, Brian S. Leonard

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

The field of lean enterprise has continued to grow since being introduced by the Toyota Corporation after World War II. In academia lean strategies are being introduced in order to prepare students for this new era in operating procedures. Currently, the majority of research in business and academia is focused on processes and methodology, but leadership strategies are yet to be fully examined.

According to Hamilton (2006) there are insufficient resources and research that contribute to understanding successful implementation strategies. Hamilton (2006) expresses concern of the lack of focus on leadership strategies and employee development in lean enterprise.

This qualitative …

Jane's Decision: Her Experience As A Plebe: Instructor's Manual, Andra Gumbus, Jill Woodilla, Christopher C. York

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

The Potential Of Erin Brokovitch To Introduce Organizaitonal Behavior Topics, J. Benjamin Forbes, Jonathan E. Smith

Organization Management Journal

Real organizational behavior is rich, and messy, and emotional, and at times painful, but at other times immensely rewarding. The movie, Erin Brockovich, captures this richness and provides an exciting means to introduce a variety of individual or micro- organizational behavior concepts (such as perception, personality, and motivation) typically covered at the beginning of the Organizational Behavior course. In this paper, we describe the use of the film, including a takehome viewing assignment, an in-class assignment, a description of clips and comments for in-class use, and suggestions for the types of issues to discuss in relation to the major topics …

Jane's Decision: Her Experience As A Plebe, Andra Gumbus, Jill Woodilla, Christopher C. York

Organization Management Journal

Jane (a pseudonym) describes her experience as a first year student at one of the military service academies sometime during the period 2000-2005. She portrays the rigors of training to be an officer in the US military service and the special burdens of being a good-looking, high-achieving woman in this environment. She provides an insider's perspective on the academy culture, including the importance of the honor code, and spoken and unspoken rules against fraternization and for protecting ―one's own. At the end of the case Jane must make a decision that could change the course of her life. The case …

Print Review, Print Industry Center, Patricia Cost

RIT Digital Archives

The PrintReview is produced quarterly exclusively for Affiliates of the Printing Industry Center at RIT.

Volume 27, Number 4, December 2007 Olac Newsletter, Jain Fletcher, Jay Weitz, Barbara Vaughan, Amy K. Weiss

OLAC Newsletters

Digitized December 2007 issue of the OLAC Newsletter.

Globalization And Social Work Education : An Initial International Inquiry., Elaine Rushmore Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With an increasing awareness of a global-local reality, social work research and theorizing on globalization is limited but growing. From a multinational perspective, the purpose of this dissertation was to contribute to the emerging professional discourse through (a) an examination of definitions and dimensions of globalization and (b) and an exploration of the impact of globalization on social work education. Perspectives on globalization were collected on a newly designed and translated survey from 46 social work educators from schools and social work in China, Germany, Russia, and the United States of America. Descriptive analysis and the coding of themes were …

North American Business Strategies Towards Climate Change, Charles Jones, David Levy

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

Business has become a key part of the fabric of global environmental governance, considered here as the network which orders and regulates economic activity and its impacts. We argue that businesses generally are willing to undertake limited measures consistent with a fragmented and weak policy regime. Further, the actions of businesses act to create, shape and preserve that compromised regime. We examine three types of indicators of business responses in North America: ratings by external organizations, commitments regarding emissions, and joint political action. We find business response to be highly ambiguous, with energetic efforts yielding few results.

Analysis Of Compelling And Constraining Forces Experienced By Georgia High School Principals Implementing Smaller Learning Communities, Martin Gregory Waters

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The research on smaller learning communities is extensive, and the benefits are documented, compelling, and persuasive. While the practice can become the engine for higher achievement, stakeholders must adjust to a new paradigm of school operations. In many cases, prior procedures and traditions must be abandoned to achieve academic, social, and school environmental goals. Several unknown factors exist in Georgia's high schools as administrators attempt to find programs and procedures to meet the needs of rapidly growing and diverse student populations. First, little is known about the experiences of Georgia high school principals implementing smaller learning communities, nor the forces …

The Mental Universe Of Success, Radhashyam Giridharadas

Student Scholarship

Adaptive, transformative changes are not just a luxury for the chosen few but a vital necessity for all organizations. The brutality of market forces, the ephemeral qualities of customer needs, the revolutionary powers of technology and the ravages caused by the passage of time make the need to constantly adapt and renew competitive advantages an undeniable high priority for organizations. Most adaptive changes begin with learning. That learning often inspires a new vision and mindset, and the actions that ensue could result in new cultures, skills, systems and processes. We have collectively referred to all these elements as the mental …

Sales Opportunity Crafting: Explaining How Salespeople Craft Value Propositions In Business-To-Business Selling, Ganesh Kumar

Student Scholarship

This paper examines the spontaneous, situational, adaptive capabilities in successful business-to-business salespeople. Salespeople craft appropriate sales value propositions that resonate with buyers to achieve a sale. Findings indicate sales value propositions occur in four distinct patterns, as a combination of a salespeople’s choice in emphasizing the value of their relationship and/or the solution itself. This paper combines contingency selling approaches with job crafting to suggest a new construct—“sales opportunity crafting (SOC)”—to explain how salespeople frame a sales opportunity and then decide on a sales value positioning response. The suggested model highlights the role of antecedents— such as influence over customers’ …

Early Childhood Program Director Leadership Characteristics And Program Quality, Barbara J. June

Dissertations

This phenomenological research study was conducted to explore and describe how the characteristics, traits, and styles of directors, as described and perceived by the teachers, reflect the factors that are currently addressed in the indicators forming the basis for evaluating program quality. Teacher participants from six sites participated in a survey, questionnaire, and interview to determine director and program profiles. The Program Quality Assessment score was used as a standardized data source.

The data were collected, coded, and analyzed to determine the director and program profiles for each of the sites. The director and program data for each site were …

Measurement Equivalence In The Conduct Of A Global Organizational Survey Across Countries In Six Cultural Regions, Alain De Beuckelaer, Filip Lievens, Gilbert Swinnen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study examined the measurement equivalence of a global organizational survey measuring six work climate factors as administered across 25 countries (N = 31.315) in all regions of the world (West Europe, East Europe, North America, Latin America, South America, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific). Across all countries, the survey instrument exhibited 'form equivalence' and 'metric equivalence', suggesting that respondents completed the survey using the same frame-of-reference and interpreted the rating scale intervals similarly. Schwartz's (1994, 1999, 2004) cultural value theory was then used for grouping the countries in cultural regions, and to anticipate measurement equivalence of the data from …

The Continued Vitality Of Prophylactic Relief, Tracy A. Thomas

Akron Law Faculty Publications

The categorization of a separate type of “prophylactic” injunction and its continued prevalence in the courts provides a framework by which to evaluate the legitimacy of broad injunctions. Such broad injunctive relief has been conventionally theorized as simple judicial activism, and has been attacked accordingly. The theory of prophylaxis provides an alternative narrative by which to evaluate injunctive relief in order to retain valuable and effective judicial remedies. Rather than striking down all broad injunctive relief as the dominant discourse demands, the concept of the prophylactic injunction provides language through which jurists and lawyers can navigate the real issues of …

Bias On The Bench: Raising The Bar For U.S. Immigration Judges To Ensure Equality For Asylum Seekers, Lindsey R. Vaala

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Moment Of Encounter: A Critical Exploration Of Parent-School Communication, Gary Samuel Marx

Masters Theses

Relationships among parents and schools are situated in a complex hegemony. Communication is central to the identification and construction of power in schools. Schools employ a model of communication that locates power predominately with their representatives and values parents for conformity to organizational expectations. Shared power relationships challenge actors to encounter one another and co-contribute to the development of children. The goal of this study is to uncover various meanings and understandings from what parents recall from Moments of Encounter with school personnel. Such an examination is designed to reveal power at the microlevel, in the encounter itself, as well …

December 2007 Commencement Program, Bowling Green State University

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Sensemaking And Meaning-Arbitrage In Loosely-Coupled Healthcare Organizations, Sridhar Belavadi Seshadri

Student Scholarship

Academic Medical Centers (AMC), despite their research and educational prowess, are in a financial crisis. Increasing costs, stiffer competition, and anticipated tightening of budgets have created new levels of urgency among medical school deans and hospital CEOs to increase the efficiency of the clinical enterprise. This study models an AMC as a loosely coupled system and examines why interdisciplinary teams—comprising administrators, physicians, and nurses—struggle to successfully reengineer healthcare processes. Semi- structured interviews in an U.S. AMC were the basis for the development of a grounded theory framework. The findings suggest that: (a) the ambivalent culture of an AMC alternately supports …

Japanese Corporate Governance: Structural Change And Financial Performance, Asli M. Colpan, Toru Yoshikawa, Takashi Hikino, Hiroaki Miyoshi

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper analyzes institutional and legal changes related to corporate governance and their impact on financial performance in Japan since the second half of the 1990s. We attempt to address two issues systematically: (1) how much the governance reforms of Japanese firms transformed the conventional system of alliance capitalism and managerial control; and (2) what economic outcomes those governance changes have yielded. As the Commercial Code and other legal and institutional frameworks were revised, Japanese firms experienced shifts in terms of stock ownership, corporate control and managerial organizations. Our empirical results show that the influence of new ownership composition and …

The Effects Of Entrepreneurial Growth Orientation On Organizational Change And Firm Growth, Wee Liang Tan, Thomas Menkhoff, Yue Wah Chay

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Managing growth in an enterprise as it grows beyond the startup phase is a challenge for many entrepreneurs. One key element that can help or hinder growth is the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurial growth has been linked to micro variables (motivations and psychological attributes of the entrepreneur) and macro variables. However, few studies have examined the role of the growth aspirations of the entrepreneur on the necessary elements of organization change related to growth.

This paper reports a study employing a typology of entrepreneurs based on their growth aspirations using an established dichotomous scale devised by Smith to differentiate between what he …

The Validity Of Assessment Centres For The Prediction Of Supervisory Performance Ratings: A Meta-Analysis, Eran Hermelin, Filip Lievens, Ivan T. Robertson

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The current meta-analysis of the selection validity of assessment centres aims to update an earlier meta-analysis of assessment centre validity. To this end, we retrieved 26 studies and 27 validity coefficients (N=5850) relating the Overall Assessment Rating (OAR) to supervisory performance ratings. The current study obtained a corrected correlation of .28 between the OAR and supervisory job performance ratings (95% confidence interval .24 < =rho < =.32). It is further suggested that this validity estimate is likely to be conservative given that assessment centre validities tend to be affected by indirect range restriction.

Appreciative Inquiry-Based Intervention: A Network View Of Organizational Renewal, Thomas H. Carlson

Student Scholarship

This paper describes the design, conduct and outcomes of an Appreciative Inquiry-based intervention. The subject group was a newly formed unit of a health care organization. The unit was formed by merging elements of two preexisting groups, and was guided by inexperienced managers. Previous interaction between those groups had been characterized by distrust and competition. Appreciative Inquiry provided the foundation for the intervention. Members of the unit galvanized around identified strengths, shared values and beliefs, shared perspectives, and a positive vision of their future; the normative-relational aspect of the intervention. On that foundation, members of the unit developed generative skills …

Top Salespeople Don't Sell: Managing Frame Incongruence Through Network Partitioning, Stuart R. Strolin

Student Scholarship

Buying decisions surrounding complex, transformational software are not made by individuals but instead by buying teams. Existing research on sales behavior and salesperson traits focuses on one-to-one selling and gives little insight into the training and selection required of a successful sales force. This paper describes the selling style and personal traits of twelve successful salespeople engaged in complex computer software sales to buying teams. What do successful salespeople do and what is it about him/her that distinguishes the most successful? Technology Frames of Reference and Actor Network Theory were used to interpret the methods used in successfully selling to …