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The Observer, Central Washington University

Student Newspaper

Student newspaper for Central Washington University for June 3-10, 2010. Vol 85, No. 9.

Technical Practice And Identity Work In Democratic Media Activism, Christina Dunbar-Hester

McGannon Center Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

A Multi-Level Examination Of Employee Reactions To Organizational Change, Julianne Rodda

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Describing Who Is Reading Omj And What You Can Expect In This Issue – Lean Engineering, Emotional Intelligence, And Management Education, William P. Ferris

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Off The Rails: Understanding The Derailment Of A Lean Manufacturing Initiative, Elizabeth F. Turesky, Patrick Connell

Organization Management Journal

This study focuses on why lean manufacturing change initiatives at a Northern New England company failed to produce sustained results. Consultants and leaders share responsibility for the sustainability of the change initiatives they undertake. Rationally, neither party would undertake a change initiative with the intent to fail, yet clearly, even highly structured and well-tested initiatives often do fail (derail) in practice. This research used an observational methodology to uncover answers to the question, “what are the key factors that can cause the derailment of a well-intended, highly-structured change initiative?” In addition to consistency with findings from other studies on sustaining …

Doing More With Less At Ariens: A Leadership And Transformation Case Study, Jennifer K. Hartwell, George Roth

Organization Management Journal

Ariens is a family-owned manufacturer of lawn and snow equipment that designs, manufactures, sells, distributes, and supports its products in the United States, and more recently, internationally. Ariens faced and overcame a number of difficult challenges over the last decade by adopting and sustaining lean production principles throughout the organization, as well as with its suppliers and customers. This case study describes earlier business challenges, the changes that were made, how they were led, and the response of the workforce. The case study focuses on the period from 1998 to 2005, and a post-script updates what has happened up through …

Comments By George Roth And Jennifer Hartwell On “Off The Rails: Understanding The Derailment Of A Lean Manufacturing Initiative” By Turesky And Connell, Jennifer K. Hartwell, George Roth

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Innovation In The Early Church: Strengthening The Thesis, Michael E. Cafferky

Faculty Works

In his response to Oster’s article, Cafferky offers commendations for the points that Oster presents when considering the events described in Acts 10-11. Cafferky also explores what he believes is an implicit assumption in Oster’s article regarding applying organizational theory from the for-profit sector straight across into the nonprofit sector. Oster’s thesis might be strengthened if the literature from the world of organization theory applicable to nonprofits is considered. Finally, Cafferky attempts to strengthen Oster’s thesis by exploring the complexity of the identity and purpose that he believes the first century Jewish Christians carried with them as they evaluated the …

Organic Restaurant Business Plan, Jesse Adam Godsey

Agribusiness

This study was undertaken to determine if it is feasible to open an organic restaurant in San Luis Obispo, CA.

All collected data went into the development of a bare bones business plan for the organic restaurant. The report utilizes two techniques for analysis of this data. A strategic analysis was used to determine if the restaurant could be a legitimate competitor among the many local restaurants of San Luis Obispo. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats were outlined, given weights according to their impact, and used to develop a SWOT matrix. Strategic goals were set after reviewing the matrix and …

Self-Other Agreement And Leader Effectiveness: An Examination Of Differences Across Rater Sources And Leader Behaviors, Devon Nicole Riester

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

The study sought to identify the specific leadership behaviors and rater sources for which self-other agreement is most predictive of leader effectiveness. Hypotheses were based on the premise that certain sources may be better suited to provide feedback on specific leadership behaviors because they observe the individual in different setting and have a unique understanding of what it takes to effectively demonstrate certain behaviors. Participants included 847 leaders who, along with their observers, completed the Leadership Effectiveness Analysis (LEA; Management Research Group, 1992) as part of a leadership development program. Results revealed that self-other agreement may not be an important …

Organizational Commitment And Turnover Intention In Malaysia: Organizational Justice As A Determinant, C.H. Ponnu, C.C. Chuah

Research Publications (2006 to 2010)

The purpose of this study is to ascertain the importance of employees' justice perception toward their commitment with an organization and their intention to leave the organization. Numerous studies have been carried out in western countries to investigate the effects of perceived equity among employees. However, there are no such studies done in the Malaysian context. Therefore, this study attempts to fill the gap by investigating the relationship between organizational justice, organizational commitment and turnover intention of Malaysian employees. Using a sample of 172, collected from employees across organizations in the country, both procedural and distributive justice perceptions were significant …

Erp Implementation Success In Iran: Examining The Role Of System Environment Factors, S. Dezdar, S. Ainin

Research Publications (2006 to 2010)

The aim of this paper is to examine factors related to system environment (namely, system quality and vendor support) that influences ERP implementation success in Iranian companies. Implementation success is identified using user satisfaction and organizational impact perspective. The study adopts the survey questionnaire approach to collect empirical data. The questionnaire was distributed to ERP users and a total of 384 responses were used for analysis. The results illustrated that both system quality and vendor support have significant effect on ERP implementation success. This implies that companies must ensure they source for the best available system and a vendor that …

Granite State College 2010-2011 Catalog, Granite State College

Granite State College Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Examining The Effects Of A National League For Nursing Core Competencies Workshop As An Intervention To Improve Nurse Faculty Practice, Robin Renata Wilson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Due to the complex challenges facing schools of nursing, a research study was implemented to introduce nurse faculty at one small rural northeastern Tennessee school of nursing to the NLN Core Competencies for Nurse Educators. Utilizing Kalb's Nurse Faculty Self-Evaluation Tool as a pre- and post-intervention test, 30 nurse faculty members participated in a quasi-experimental quantitative study and focus group interview. Clinical adjunct staff members participated in a test-retest process to establish tool reliability with somewhat mixed results. The overall study demonstrated that participants did exhibit a significant increase in knowledge and ability of the NLN Core Competencies for Nurse …

The Communication Model And The Nature Of Change In Terms Of Deforestation In China Since 1949, Dexin Tian, Chin-Chung Chao

Communication Faculty Publications

This article explores the communication model and nature of change in terms of deforestation in China since 1949. Through Lasswell’s communication model and the theory of change and via historical analysis and extended literature review, we have discovered: First, Mao’s government adopted an effective one-way top-down communication model with Chinese characteristics during 1949 and 1978, which facilitated deforestation in China leading to massive economic dislocation and immense waste of resources. Second, the Chinese government’s change to practical ideology brought about new administrative practices of enacting forest protection laws and reorientating the relevant workforces to use available technologies for the production …

Community College Succession Planning: Preparing The Next Generation Of Women For Leadership Roles, Angela Kaysen Luzbetak

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore strategies to enable community colleges to develop and cultivate women for leadership roles through succession planning. According to the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), the pace of administrative and other key staff retirements exceeds the pace at which these positions are being re-staffed (Shults, 2001). One might question why the purposeful development of future community college leaders is critical. Community colleges currently face a crucial leadership crisis in the United States. Pending retirements and the lack of succession planning to fill upcoming vacancies is reaching a critical turning point. The Chronicle …

Deans Of Career And Technical Education: Charting The Course To Senior Administration, Shelley Zarovsky Levin

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the essential leadership practices, abilities, and experiences of Deans of Career and Technical Education (CTE) and to consider how these Deans of CTE fit into the succession process of the community college. A qualitative case study was conducted with three dyads of career Deans and their supervising senior administrators, using the comparative case method to analyze the data collected from the participants.

The data were collected from in-person participant interviews on their respective campuses. One Dean of CTE and the supervising senior administrator were at a rural college; one dyad was at …

Library Perspective, Vendor Response, Robin Champieux, Steven Carrico

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

Something To Think About -- Nothing's The Same Anymore!, Mary E. (Tinker) Massey

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

If Rumors Were Horses, Katina Strauch

Against the Grain

No abstract provided.

Spirituality At Work And Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Replication Study In Taiwan, Gilbert Tan, Christine Kuo, Eugene Zhen Yao Geh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Interest in Management, Spirituality and Religion (MSR) research has surged over the last decade. However, most of the studies are done in the Western context. Tan and Geh’s (2009) is an exception. In Tan and Geh’s study, they provided a theoretical model linking spirituality at work with organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) through organizational commitment as the mediator and tested it empirically. The findings of the study, though exploratory, were interesting. They affirmed the effectiveness of affective commitment as a mediator between spirituality at work and OCB. Normative commitment, however, was not as effective. Their findings also show that continuance commitment …

Farmer, Agent, And Specialist Perspectives On Preferences For Learning Among Today's Farmers, Nancy K. Franz, Fred Piercy, Joseph Donaldson, Johnnie Westbrook

Journal of Extension

Few studies have examined the types of educational delivery methods preferred by farmers (Eckert & Bell, 2005; Eckert & Bell, 2006). The research project reported here explored the preferred learning methods of farmers in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia. Data on learning methods collected directly from farmers were compared with preferred teaching methods of Extension agents and specialists. The findings should shape agent and specialist perspectives on appropriate educational delivery methods when educating farmers and working towards farmer adoption of new practices.

Web-Based Portfolio Assessment : An Open Source Solution For Platform Design, Regina Collins

Theses

Summative assessments of student writing performance have been instrumental in the evaluation of student ability and analysis of educational programs. One method used to perform summative assessments of writing performance in post-secondary education is through the evaluation of student portfolios. Using an evidence-centered design approach, NJIT faculty researchers have developed rubrics to measure the acquired skills of students. Classroom instructors from the department meet periodically to score the students' portfolios containing constructed responses to predetermined writing tasks. The paper-based assessments are then manually key-stroked into Microsoft Excel for storage, with the scores then analyzed in SPSS and SAS.

This thesis …

Using Critical & Creative Thinking To Enhance Productivity In Integrated Marketing Communications Meetings And Procedures, Ashley N. Smith

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This paper provides a teaching model for how to effectively incorporate Critical and Creative Thinking (CCT) methods into a business setting to initiate organizational change. I developed a workshop on workplace meetings based on the imperfections of the marketing team at “ICS.” The workshop touches on CCT methods that are needed in order for organizations to change. I also integrated CCT methods into the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Procedure to enhance productivity and produce results. Integrated marketing is made up of many pieces of the media field, but often the participants in IMC are searching for the same end result. …

Urban Public School Libraries And Educational Reform: The Case Of The Detroit Public Schools, Kafi D. Kumasi

Urban Library Journal

This article explores the implications of school reform on school libraries using the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) as a case study in urban librarianship. A literature review on the role and impact of school librarians in K-12 education is included to help illustrate the role of school libraries in public school reform. Two DPS reforms are selected for closer evaluation: a 2002 district-initiated reform and a 2008 state-mandated reform. The article concludes by offering a list of recommendations to help strengthen DPS reform goals and objectives by utilizing the professional knowledge and resources of school librarians in the district. These …

Undergraduate Commencement Exercises Program, May 22, 2010

Bryant University Commencements

Undergraduate Commencement Exercises Program, May 22, 2010.

Graduate School Commencement Exercises Program, May 20, 2010

Bryant University Commencements

Graduate School Commencement Exercises Program, May 20,2010.

A Study Of Leadership Styles That Lead To Academic Achievement Of Hispanic Students, Mitzi Harris Smith

Student Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between secondary principal leadership style and Hispanic student achievement. Student achievement was measured by the graduation rate for each school. The principals' leadership styles were defined by scores in the Leadership Orientations Profile. The online survey was sent to 549 potential participants with 105 responses. Four types of schools were included in the data: public, alternative, charter, and continuation. Sixty-three percent of the public high school principals were male. Eighty percent of the non-public school principals were female. Most of the principals in the study had eight or less years …

Draft Agenda For Business Meeting Of The Fcic On 5-18-2010, Gretchen Kinney Newsom

Documents

No abstract provided.

Interview With Dr. Roger Casey: Vice President For Academic Affairs And Provost, Roger Casey, Wenxian Zhang

Oral Histories

Roger N. Casey came to Rollins in 2000 and became the Dean of Faculty, in addition to teaching English courses. In 2006, he was confirmed as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. He is also an accomplished writer, actor, director, and speaker.

Casey was born on February 28, 1961, and grew up in the small town of Woodruff, South Carolina. The first member of his family to attend college, he earned his B.A. in English at Furman University before moving on to graduate school at Florida State University, where he received his M.A. in English, as well as his …