Digital Commons Network^™

Love Of Place: The Metropolitan University Advantage: 2015 Cumu National Conference In Omaha, Joseph A. Allen, Kelly Prange, Deborah Smith-Howell, Sara Woods, B. J. Reed

Psychology Faculty Publications

The theme for the 2015 CUMU National Conference in Omaha, NE was “Love of Place: The Metropolitan University Advantage”. The 2015 theme celebrates key elements that establish the identity of metropolitan universities and CUMU as an organization. The theme recognizes the unique opportunities and benefits provided by metropolitan universities for students and communities. Metropolitan universities provide students with enriching educational experiences while contributing to building and strengthening the community. These enriched experiences also support faculty and staff growth as members of the university and community. The theme encouraged conference participants to explore new pedagogical approaches, strategies for sustaining meaningful partnerships, …

Mgt 4860 : Managing Conflict, Power & Politics In Organizations, Business

Approved Course Proposals

No abstract provided.

Using Case-Based Reasoning For Simulation Modeling In Healthcare, Khaled Alshareef

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The healthcare system is always defined as a complex system. At its core, it is a system composed of people and processes and requires performance of different tasks and duties. This complexity means that the healthcare system has many stakeholders with different interests, resulting in the emergence of many problems such as increasing healthcare costs, limited resources and low utilization, limited facilities and workforce, and poor quality of services. The use of simulation techniques to aid in solving healthcare problems is not new, but it has increased in recent years. This application faces many challenges, including a lack of real …

Effective General Entrepreneurial Learning Programs For Sme Development, Paul Kenneth Steele

Capstone Collection

The principle objective of this paper is to reexamine the potential for impactful, general programs in education for Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) owners by assessing the success of a program called SME PRIME; conducted by AMIDEAST, Oman for six Omani entrepreneurs over a seven-month period.

General programs for entrepreneur education are produced and implemented the world over despite consistent assertions throughout academic literature that such programs are ineffective. Typical approaches to training program development and evaluation emphasize the critical role of training needs analysis. Training needs analysis is often an ignored step in the process of SME training program …

Collaboration Between Academic Affairs And Student Affairs At Public State Colleges In The Southern United States, Geoffrey Fortunato

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Throughout history, higher education has reiterated the importance and significance of collaboration between all institutional divisions and departments (Kezar, 2003). As the responsibilities and operational functions of each division have increasingly become more specialized and complex, effective collaboration remains a barrier in the optimal functioning of institutions throughout the country (Kezar). The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the current perceptions and practices of collaboration between the Academic Affairs and Student Affairs divisions at state colleges geographically located in the Southern region of the United States, through the lens of Morten T. Hansen's T-shaped model of disciplined …

Overcoming Beginning Teacher Attrition, Neva Husko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research was to increase the retention of beginning teachers in a large urban public school district in Central Florida through the refinement of the current induction program. In order to understand the needs of beginning teachers, four key stakeholders were surveyed using an online pilot survey developed by the researchers. Beginning teachers, mentors, instructional coaches, and principals each provided their perspective and perceptions on the needs of beginning teachers. Through the analysis of the qualitative results, several commonalities emerged. These themes included discrepancies regarding knowledge and completion of district induction requirements, as well as between the …

Bmgt 340.04: Management And Organizational Behavior, Theresa M. Floyd

University of Montana Course Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Bmgt 340.03: Management And Organizational Behavior, Theresa M. Floyd

University of Montana Course Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Passing On The Legacy: How Rural Community College Senior Officers Prepare The Next Generation Of Leaders, Linda Thompson Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

Given the significant projected percentages of retirements of community college senior officers, forecasted workforce shortages, and the difficulty of attracting employees to rural community colleges, a qualitative study was undertaken to understand the learning experiences of seven senior officers in developing the competencies to lead at a rural community college. Through the interviews, the senior officers redirected the conversations to describe how they develop the next generation of rural community college leaders. Findings included the descriptive concepts of (a) rural legacies, (b) developing pragmatic competence, and (c) reciprocal development. A grounded theory model provided guidance on preparing the next generation …

Academia Meeting The Needs Of Industry: A Case Study Of Developing A New Degree Program For Petroleum Engineering, Rosemary Vogt

Theses and Dissertations

The recent oil boom in western North Dakota’s Bakken formation in the Williston Basin resulted in numerous opportunities for skilled professionals (for which an academic credential is required) in petroleum engineering. Oil and gas industries operating in the state approached leaders at the University of North Dakota (UND) with the request to develop a petroleum engineering program for the purpose of contributing to the need for a skilled workforce in the state. In 2012, the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education approved a new Department of Petroleum Engineering at the University of North Dakota. What is unknown or understood …

To Divest Or Not To Divest: A Meta-Analysis Of The Antecedents Of Corporate Divestitures, Monica Adya

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Corporate divestitures have been identified as important strategic actions with a positive impact on firm performance. Yet, what is still missing in the strategic management literature is an integrative framework that quantitatively synthesizes the relative impact of various antecedents to divestitures, and theoretically reconciles the multitude of theories underlying divestiture research. To fill this gap, the author conducts a meta-analysis (based on a sample of 35 studies) and develops four broad categories of determinants: corporate governance; firm strategy; performance; and industry environment. Evidence is found that divestitures are driven mainly by prior divestment experience, structural factors (firm size and firm …

Mba 5670 : Management Of Information Technologies, Business

Approved Course Proposals

No abstract provided.

Jag Strategic Plan, Anne M. Hobbs, Ryan E. Spohn

Reports

In 2015, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) began working in conjunction with Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice (Nebraska Crime Commission or NCC) to create a 3-year strategic plan for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) funding. The JAG Program, (42 U.S.C. § 3751(a)) is the primary provider of federal criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions, providing critical funding necessary to support a range of program areas. JAG funding is awarded annually and the applicant must show how funds will be used to improve or enhance the criminal justice system.

The Effect Of Baldrige Performance Excellence Program On Organization's Innovation/Dynamic Capabilities, Mohammed Alomairy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigated the effect of Baldrige performance excellence program on organization's innovation/dynamic capabilities improvement. According to the literature, there is little or no practical method for building dynamic/innovation capabilities within organizations. The study hypothesizes that Baldrige performance excellence program helps organizations to systematically develop the required dynamic/innovation capabilities for innovation. Twenty-four organizations that had implemented Baldrige program over the past five years participated in this research study. Two types of data were measured/collected from these organizations; Performance excellence data and Innovation capabilities data. To avoid bias in the data collection, the two data were measured and collected at different …

Distributed Reliability, Amy L. Stein

University of Colorado Law Review

For the past century, electric utilities and grid operators have both owned and operated resources to maintain the reliability of the grid. This reliability has been controlled through investments in generation, transmission, and distribution assets. Today, a growing number of previously passive customers are much more involved in generating their own electricity. But this customer involvement does not stop with generation. Customers are also contributing energy storage and demand response (DR) to the grid, reliability resources that are an essential component of supporting intermittent, renewable energy. This Article draws upon economic analyses of industrial organization and principal agent theory to …

Why Do Some Employees Readjust To Their Home Organizations Better Than Others? Job Demands-Resources Model Of Repatriation Adjustment, Yukiko Yamasaki

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The present study applied the Demands-Resources Model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007) to investigate factors related to repatriate adjustment. Specifically, this study proposed three organizational factors (role ambiguity, lack of work autonomy, and absence of pre-training) as job demands, which would inhibit adjustment of repatriates. The second part of this study identified three personal characteristics (openness, cultural intelligence, and proactivity) as job resources and examined whether these characteristics would minimize the negative effects of the job demands on repatriate adjustment. Repatriate adjustment was assessed as expatriate adjustment (Black & Stephens, 1989), job stress (Lambert, Hogan, & Griffin, 2007), job satisfaction (Warr, …

Retention Of Information Technology Employees, Sherry Ann Dixon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Business leaders often realize greater profitability when they have strategies to retain IT

employees. However, the cost to replace IT employees creates significant challenges for

business leaders. Given the growing impact of technology on operational costs, retention

of IT employees is imperative. This exploratory single case study sought to identify the

strategies that leaders use to increase IT employee retention. The population was 6

leaders from a military organization in Norfolk, Virginia, responsible for the retention of

IT employees. Herzberg's two-factor theory was the conceptual framework for this study.

The data was collected from semi-structured interviews with 6 leaders along …

Improving The Identification, Delivery Of Care, And Outcomes Of Hospital-Acquired Sepsis, Nicholas James Welker

DNP Projects

Sepsis syndromes that develop among a hospital inpatient population can be difficult to differentiate from other disease processes that share systemic inflammatory response syndromes. A bedside nurse-driven screening process was developed at Baptist Health Lexington to aid with early sepsis identification and foster prompt goal-directed therapy. This retrospective study of 26 patients identified over a 6 month period measures intensive care length of stay, mortality, and sepsis severity. Exclusion criteria were pregnancy and Do Not Resuscitate orders.

Screening compliance was poor at 23.1 percent (n=6). Complete compliance with goal directed therapy was 7.7 percent, though some components of therapy such …

Effective Online Lectures: Improving Practice Through Design And Pedagogy, Terry Lane Bese

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research project was to improve the practice of using online lectures at a small private university. Using action research methodology, the researcher worked with a group of five university instructors to refine the use of online lectures through design and pedagogical practice. Beginning with a template or guide based on the literature, the instructors developed online lectures connected with a student activity. Following the principles of the TPACK framework, instructors were urged to develop student activities that worked best for their specific content as well as their desired student outcomes. Two cycles of implementation, analysis, and …

A Comparative Study Of Leadership Skill Requirements Across Sales, Human Resource And Finance Functions, Ronald P. Conlin

Theses and Dissertations

The purposed of this quantitative study was to identify whether leadership skill requirements to perform one’s job effectively varies by job function. This research focuses on leadership skill rather than other leadership constructs such as leadership traits because leadership skills can be developed and improved upon. Past research in this area has identified that leadership skill requirements vary by level within an organization (executive, middle management, lower management) but nothing exists examining by job function (Mumford, Campion, & Morgeson, 2007). In this research, the job functions examined were sales, human resources, and finance, and 146 interviews were completed. The results …

Impact Of An Organization Identity Intervention On Employees' Organizational Commitment, Tami Cole

Theses and Dissertations

This project examined the impacts of an organization identity intervention on workers’ commitment during large-scale transformational change at a financial services company. A 21-member information technology team was recruited for the study. Commitment was measured using a quantitative instrument and the events and data collected during the identity intervention were described. Participants generally enjoyed the intervention, although team members grew increasingly negative over the course of the event due to past experiences with similar interventions. Commitment was consistent across both groups and remained unchanged across the study period. The study organization is advised to assure that its leaders support and …

Emergency Room Nurse Burnout, Brian Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the pervasiveness of job fatigue in Emergency Room nurses. It identifies factors that contribute to nurse burnout, including job dissatisfaction and workplace bullying, and explores strategies for assessing and reducing fatigue syndrome. As the literature suggests, there is a link between nurse burnout and patient safety. These findings are expected to help organizations develop strategies to reduce stress in the workplace and develop wellness programs. Upon using an interviewing process, the study found several themes that pointed to the key factors of increased ER nurse burnout, and provided several implications as to the changes that need to …

Driving Employee Engagement Through Greater Purpose, Mark R. Gasta

Theses and Dissertations

A significant challenge for growing businesses is maintaining the culture that made them successful. An organization’s culture is manifested through rewards systems, values, rituals, stories, and celebrations. Vail Resorts’ mission is simple: to create the experience of a lifetime for their employees so they can, in turn, provide exceptional experiences for their guests. Vail Resorts faces a challenge: how to grow without becoming disconnected from the heart and soul of skiing and disenfranchising those that have joined the industry for the same purpose-driven reasons upon which the company was founded. This case study explored the specific actions taken by Vail …

Preparing Future Leaders In Higher Education: Excellence Practices From Staff To Mid-Level Management Role Transitions, Erica Sherese Little

Theses and Dissertations

Mid-level leadership is key to a functioning university and it is important that mid-level leaders feel they have the tools and resources they need in order to succeed. To be successful in a new mid-level leadership position, entering supervisors must clearly communicate a strong sense of vision, values, and principles to their staff and establish positive relationships to encourage inclusivity, support, and effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to determine what higher education institutions can do to prepare staff for a successful transition into mid-level management and leadership roles successfully. This purpose was achieved by identifying successes and challenges …

The Impact Of Coaches' Training On Implementation Of The Linked Learning Approach, Elizabeth Mckinstry

Theses and Dissertations

The onset of the 21st century brought a new dynamic in the workforce fueled by societal changes and technological advancements. These forces helped to create the conditions that transformed the economy from the industrial age of routine labor to a knowledge age where creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking are now needed for success. In addition, the forecasts for this new global economy of the 21st century project that students will need not only new skillsets but also increased levels of education to succeed in the workplace. To prepare all students for postsecondary education and foster the growth of these new …

Planning, Implementing, And Evaluating Manager-As-Coach Programs In Business: A Delphi Study, Katie Lea Frazier

Theses and Dissertations

The evolution of workplace coaching has been primarily driven by coach practitioners as empirical literature did not noticeably emerge until the 1990s. As a result, coaching in business has relied on a variety of theories about how people learn rather than grounding the practice in social science research. This research study used the Delphi method to reach expert agreement on the guiding principles of coaching and the planning, implementation, and evaluation of manger-as-coach programs in business. Expert participants in this study were solicited through LinkedIn coaching-related groups and from the International Coaching Federation’s open, online credential holder’s directory. Twenty-four expert …

Leadership Styles And Psychological Capital In A Home Improvement Organization, Mark C. Leonard

Theses and Dissertations

The academic and corporate pursuit of many programs is to understand the implications of leadership styles on organizations. Countless research hours have been spent examining the leadership construct in the hope of developing programs that impact performance. Furthermore, there has been a recent surge in the study of Psychological Capital and the potential implications for human performance and development. The purpose of this quantitative study was to understand the intersection of leadership styles, Psychological Capital, and productivity. The study examined two research questions. The first research question examined what correlation exists between the styles of leadership as measured by the …

Social, Behavioral, And Cognitive Influences On Upper Echelons During Strategy Process, Philip Bromiley, Devaki Rau

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

This study reviews research on the social, behavioral, and cognitive influences on CEOs, top management teams (TMTs), and the CEO-TMT interface during strategic decision making. We identify the key issues examined in this research over the past 10 years and relate developments in the field to previous knowledge in this area. We also attempt to identify what constitutes an established body of knowledge in the field and, therefore, areas that need additional examination. Our review indicates that while there has been an explosion of research on the influence of CEO personality and TMT social processes on strategy process, much remains …

Exploring Professional Development For Missouri City Police Department Sergeants, Keith Jemison

All Capstone Projects

The purpose of this project was to explore creation of an organizational development program that prepares potential mid-level managerial candidates to effectively assume the responsibilities associated with the rank of Sergeant in the Missouri City Police Department (MCPD). To that end, the researcher sought to identify the Knowledge, Skills, Abilities (KSA) and/or resources, if any, perceived by internal stakeholders, more specifically holding the rank of Sergeant as well as those who supervise those holding the rank of Sergeant, to be beneficial to potential candidates who want to assume the responsibilities of the position or to those who already hold the …

Social Workers And Nurses In Labor And Delivery Units : Supportive Partnerships Or Parallel Work Lives?, Allison M. Barbey

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Despite increased research on the misconceptions of social work, further investigation is needed to explore the impact of such attitudes on specific practice settings, including their effects on interdisciplinary collaborations. In an effort to help address this gap in research, this study explored the dynamics of social workers’ and nurses’ interactions using labor and delivery units as a lens. In this mixed method study, 71 participants, comprised of both nursing and social work professions completed an online survey inquiring how each profession views its own roles, that of the other profession, and factors that influence collaborations, if they occur at …