Digital Commons Network^™

Elementary Teachers' Perceived Professional Learning Needs For The Inclusive Classroom, Laurel Taylor Ellis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As a result of U.S. federal policy directives mandating inclusion, general education teachers in a rural elementary school in southern Maine were expected to be effective in working in inclusive classrooms with learners with diverse needs; however, teachers were meeting the mandates for inclusion but their students were not meeting the state's annual progress targets. The purpose of this project study was to explore teachers' perceptions of their readiness and needs for professional learning to work with diverse learners in the inclusive classroom. The research questions centered on teachers' beliefs, specific to their preparation and their needs and preferred mode …

Strategies For Not-For-Profit Sustainability, Latesha Slappy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Leaders of not-for-profit organizations could benefit from learning how to build a sustainable organization to help ensure that their organizations could continue to provide valuable services to the community for the future. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the fundraising strategies and donor development skills that leaders used to create a sustainable organization. Five purposefully selected leaders of a not-for-profit organization in Michigan, with experience in implementing effective fundraising strategies and fostering donor development skills for a sustainable business, participated in the study. Transformational leadership was the conceptual framework. The data collection process entailed face-to-face semistructured …

Relationship Between Transformational Leadership And Organizational Change Effectiveness, Nomahlathi Norma Mgqibi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational change effectiveness. The theoretical framework for the study was transformational leadership. Midlevel managers who successfully implemented 1 or more organizational change initiatives in any large organization in the United States (n = 107) were conveniently selected to participate in the study. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) Form 5X-Short was used to measure transformational leadership and the Project Implementation Profile (PIP) was used to measure organizational change effectiveness. The overall model, multiple linear regression, revealed a statistically significant relationship between transformational leadership and organizational …

Small Business Restaurant Owners' Financing Strategies For Sustainability, Cecilia Tobias Vasquez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Owners of small business restaurants experience a high failure rate. Many small business restaurants fail within 5 years of inception because of inadequate business plans, ineffective strategies for changing markets, and a lack of financial capital to achieve profitability, growth, and long-term survivability. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the financial strategies that some owners of small business restaurants used to sustain operations for longer than 5 years. The resource-based view was the conceptual framework for this study. Participants in this study consisted of 5 owners of small business restaurants in northern California who implemented successful …

Strategies To Obtain Loans For Black-Owned Small Businesses, Trenessa Baker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Less than 30% of Black business owners successfully obtain small business loans to sustain their businesses longer than 5 years when compared to evidence that shows that more than 65% of White small business owners obtain small business loans to sustain their businesses longer than 5 years. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the experiences of 3 Black owners of small businesses who successfully obtained small business loans and maintained operations longer than 5 years in the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina. The conceptual framework for this study was systems theory and contingency theory. …

Strategies For Increasing Employee Morale And Mitigating Turnover In The Banking Industry, Deniqua Arshay Ladson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Bank leaders who fail to implement effective leadership strategies experience low employee morale and high employee turnover. The estimated failure rate of bank industry leadership to attain some organizational targets such as desired levels of employee morale, employee retention, and profitability is as high as 60%. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies bank leaders implemented to improve employee morale and mitigate employee turnover. The population for this study included 4 bank leaders in the United States who successfully applied effective leadership to improve morale and mitigate employee turnover for more than 5 years. Data were …

Relationship Between Senior Leadership Style And Patient Satisfaction In The Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility, Amy Elder

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Patient satisfaction has a significant role in the healthcare industry, as high patient satisfaction can improve quality outcomes. Hospital leadership is responsible for the culture, outcomes, and patient experience, which can involve different leadership styles. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between leadership style of senior leaders and patient satisfaction in inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs). Through the theoretical framework of transformational and transactional leadership theories, the research questions were designed to determine whether a statistically significant relationship existed between leadership style (transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership) and patient satisfaction. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire was administered …

Preventing Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections With Education On Using The Catheter Bundle, Diana Elizabeth Carlson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Joint Commission, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recognized the importance of reducing health-care-associated infections (HAIs) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) for the safety of all patients. The U.S Department of Health and Human Services has focused on approving a plan to address HAIs in the health care setting with an emphasis on CAUTIs. The purpose of this project was to decrease CAUTI rates on a long-term care and rehab unit by educating staff about using the CAUTI bundle and CAUTI maintenance tool kit. The theoretical framework that guided …

The United Nations’ 2030 Agenda For Sustainable Development And The Impact Of The Accounting Industry, Jessica Long

Honors College Theses

No abstract provided.

Application Of Social Capital Theory To Examine The Relationship Between It-Business Alignment And Organizational Performance Outcomes In Health Care, Michael David Seagraves

Theses and Dissertations

Health care organizations are facing increasing challenges as they strive to keep pace with evolving service delivery and reimbursement models. In this context, the effective use of Information Technology (IT) is widely acknowledged as a critical factor for achieving the quadruple aim of health care: better outcomes, lower cost, improved patient experience, and improved clinician experience. Even so, health care organizations have struggled to develop effective working relationships between IT and business units and there remains a dearth of research on the impact that the quality of the relationship between IT and business employees has on organizational performance outcomes. Applying …

Elucidating The Influence Of Supervisors’ Roles On Implementation Climate, Alicia Bunger, Sarah Birken, Jill A. Hoffman, Hannah Macdowell, Mimi Choy-Brown, Erica Magier

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Supervisors play an essential role in implementation by diffusing and synthesizing information, selling implementation, and translating top management’s project plans to frontline workers. Theory and emerging evidence suggest that through these roles, supervisors shape implementation climate—i.e., the degree to which innovations are expected, supported, and rewarded. However, it is unclear exactly how supervisors carry out each of these roles in ways that contribute to implementation climate—this represents a gap in the understanding of the causal mechanisms that link supervisors’ behavior with implementation climate. This study examined how supervisors’ performance of each of these roles influences three core implementation …

Gendered Recreational Fisheries Management And North American Natural Resource Policy, Erin Burkett

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This dissertation applies feminist theory to investigate women’s participation in wildlife-based recreation and how natural resource management organizations conduct stakeholder engagement in a North American context. Gendered social processes, including norms and expectations, as well as gendered cultures, can constrain women’s participation in recreation through social sanctions and disenfranchisement. Gender and leisure scholars have studied these dynamics in sport and leisure contexts, but how individuals negotiate these constraints is understudied in a wildlife-based recreation context. Social constructions of gender also contribute to imbalances of power within formal natural resource management organizations and influence how stakeholder engagement policies and programs are …

Examining Organizational Learning Culture (Olc) In Schools Adopting Trauma-Informed Practices, Constance Grimm-Grason

All Capstone Projects

Trauma-informed practices represent a departure from the status-quo disciplinary practices originating from zero-tolerance approaches. This departure from the status-quo represents a transformative change in schools. Teachers are often the initial responders to student struggles or misbehaviors, and the teacher’s response is conditioned by their belief system, their self-efficacy, and the norms of the school where they teach. The shift to supportive school discipline approaches, such as trauma-informed practices, may alter the formal discipline norms of the school, but the shift may not transfer to the teacher’s belief systems, their sense of self-efficacy with trauma, or the informal norms of the …

การประเมินผลโครงการฝึกอบรม : กรณีศึกษา หลักสูตรการพัฒนาข้าราชการบรรจุใหม่ กรมศุลกากร, ปทิดา พิพัฒน์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

การศึกษาวิจัยนี้ มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อประเมินผลโครงการฝึกอบรม : กรณีศึกษา หลักสูตรการพัฒนาข้าราชการบรรจุใหม่ กรมศุลกากร ตามแบบจำลองซิปป์ (CIPP Model) ในด้านสภาวะแวดล้อม ด้านปัจจัยนำเข้า และด้านกระบวนการ ที่มีอิทธิพลต่อด้านผลผลิตของโครงการฝึกอบรม โดยกำหนดรูปแบบการศึกษาเป็นการวิจัยเชิงปริมาณ ผู้วิจัยดำเนินการเก็บข้อมูลเพื่อสอบถามความคิดเห็นของผู้เข้ารับการฝึกอบรมหลักสูตรการพัฒนาข้าราชการบรรจุใหม่ ประจำปีงบประมาณ พ.ศ. 2562 กรมศุลกากร จำนวน 245 คน ตอบแบบสอบถามกลับมาจำนวน 235 คน คิดเป็นร้อยละ 95.92 ซึ่งผู้วิจัยได้ทำการวิเคราะห์และประมวลผลข้อมูลด้วยโปรแกรม SPSS โดยใช้สถิติเชิงพรรณนา ได้แก่ ค่าสถิติร้อยละ ค่าเฉลี่ย ค่าส่วนเบี่ยงเบนมาตรฐาน และสถิติเชิงอนุมาน ได้แก่ การทดสอบค่า t-test การวิเคราะห์ความแปรปรวนทางเดียว และการวิเคราะห์สหสัมพันธ์และการถดถอย โดยกำหนดค่านัยสำคัญทางสถิติที่ระดับ 0.05 ผลการทดสอบสมมติฐาน พบว่า ผู้เข้ารับการฝึกอบรมที่มีเพศ อายุ และระดับการศึกษาที่แตกต่างกัน มีระดับผลผลิตของโครงการฝึกอบรมแตกต่างกัน อย่างมีนัยสำคัญทางสถิติที่ระดับ 0.05 ในขณะที่ผู้เข้ารับการฝึกอบรมที่มีประสบการณ์ทำงานที่ผ่านมาแตกต่างกัน ระดับผลผลิตของโครงการฝึกอบรมไม่แตกต่างกัน และการทดสอบความสัมพันธ์ปัจจัยที่มีอิทธิพลต่อด้านผลผลิตของโครงการ พบว่า ปัจจัยด้านกระบวนการ (Beta = 0.579) ปัจจัยด้านปัจจัยนำเข้า (Beta = 0.200) และปัจจัยด้านสภาวะแวดล้อม (Beta = 0.188) มีอิทธิพลในทิศทางบวกต่อผลผลิตของโครงการฝึกอบรม อย่างมีนัยสำคัญทางสถิติที่ระดับ 0.05

Sustainability Education And Organizational Change: A Critical Case Study Of Barriers And Change Drivers At A Higher Education Institution, Edwin E. Akins Ii, Elizabeth Giddens, David Glassmeyer, Amy Gruss

Faculty Articles

Integrating sustainability within institutions of higher education can have a tremendous impact on students, faculty, and the larger community. Sustainability efforts also experience many barriers to implementation within higher education contexts. A change management perspective can help characterize these barriers and ways to overcome them. In this critical case study, we use a process model to examine the kinds of barriers Kennesaw State University (KSU) has faced regarding implementation of academic sustainability and to evaluate change drivers that can advance sustainability during a time of leadership change. The process model evaluates barriers and change drivers according to published frameworks, and …

Diversity In Peer-Advice Networks And The Emergence Of Collective Post-Adoptive Attitudes: A Multilevel Perspective, Tanner Skousen, Elena Karahanna

Faculty Publications

Implementing new enterprise information systems (EIS) has been an important, expensive, and constant problem that research has tried to solve for years. Previous implementation research offers conflicting viewpoints on the role that social influence dynamics play in implementation success. We study one social influence mechanism, namely peer-advice networks, and examine how the diversity characteristics (separation, disparity, and variety) of these networks lead to the emergence of a collective post-adoptive attitude (either resistance or support) toward a new information system. We propose a multilevel, longitudinal study using electronic medical record systems as a context to analyze the effect of diversity on …

Rankism In Higher Education: A Critical Inquiry Of Staff Experiences, Erin M. Christensen-Mandel

Higher Education: Doctoral Research Projects

Missing from the discussions of inequitable treatment of employees in higher education are the experiences of staff members. In work interactions, staff are frequently treated differently (often as inferiors), depending on their level of education and their role in the hierarchy on the non-academic side of an institution (Anonymous, 2006; Young, Anderson & Stewart, 2015). This difference in treatment has been termed, “rankism” in the broad sense or “hierarchical microaggressions” for smaller incidents and is especially troublesome as higher education is presumed to create upward mobility and lead towards a more equitable society (Young et al., 2015).

The research questions …

Evaluation Of Wildland Firefighter Leadership, Rebecca Rose

All Master's Theses

There has been growing research evaluating hazardous occupations to gain a better understanding of how crisis leaders and followers, such as wildland firefighters make decisions in high-stress environments. In this study, wildland firefighters were examined to assess their decision-making skills using a wildland fire simulation computer game called the Networked Fire Chief (NFC). These results were compared against both the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and the Big Five personality traits using Saucier’s abbreviated Mini-Markers. Only a small sample of wildland firefighters was available to participate due to the intense 2017 fire season. Additional participants were recruited through CWU Sona system. Results …

2019-2020 Undergraduate Bulletin, Rochester Institute Of Technology

RIT Digital Archives

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Of Nurse Manager’S Leadership Styles In Maintaining A Just Culture, Aida Solomon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Healthcare leaders must establish a just culture to mitigate preventable medical deaths that occur at 250,000 per year, making medical errors the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States. However, there is a gap in knowledge regarding the attributes of nurse manager leadership styles that contribute to promoting a just culture at the unit level. Guided by the full range leadership theory and the just culture model, the purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to determine the relationship between nurse manager transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles and unit level just culture perceptions and the differences between …

Career Pathway And Leadership Attributes Of Academic Administrators At Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Dyanne Mitchell-Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Academic administrators at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are faced with multiple challenges regarding retention of students, funding, and maintaining status as an HBCU, yet little is understood about how and why leaders choose a particular career pathway. This lack of understanding creates opportunities for failure related to turnover in leadership, funding discrepancies, and lower rates of retention and persistence for students. Using Maslow's needs theory as the foundation, the purpose of this descriptive study was to better understand the career pathways of established executive level leaders atin HBCUs in order to determine attributes of success among leaders with …

Telecommunication Organization Employee Development Program's Role In Employee Engagement, Cynthia Jenkins Shuler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The risk of losing the most talented workers due to limited career opportunities had become an issue for telecommunication organizations. Talented workers became disengaged when there were limited opportunities for growth and development. To address this issue, human resource practitioners created employee development programs aimed at increasing employee engagement to help retain talented workers. However, data to determine the link between employee development programs, engagement, and retention were limited. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore managers' and employees' perceptions of how a telecommunication organization's employee development program contributes to employee engagement and to explore employees' experiences resulting …

The Challenges Of Virtual Leadership Affecting Project Delivery In The Public Sector, Verna-Kay Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Leaders of the U.S. government and U.S. organizations continue to seek information to mitigate risk and improve project deliverables in virtual environments. The problem addressed in this study was the rapid growth of technology in virtual workplaces that causes organizational leaders to concentrate on infrastructure and technology. The purpose of the exploratory case study was to understand the challenges virtual leaders encounter in the government environment that affect project delivery. The research questions were designed to examine the challenges virtual team leaders encounter while maintaining their roles and responsibilities to complete a project successfully in a timely manner. The theory …

Exploring Public Sector Leadership Through Appreciative Inquiry, Wendy L. Morton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Leadership is an important part of creating effective public organizations. Effective leaders have the potential to produce social change through positive follower and organizational outcomes, the development of important policies, and efficiently implementing public policy. The scholarly literature lacks research concerning how leadership styles translate to the public sector. The theoretical framework used to guide and support this study was Cooperrider and Whitney's appreciative inquiry. The research question explored in what ways public sector leaders affect how followers perceive themselves as social change agents in a local city-county health department. For this phenomenological study, 10 followers employed by a local …

Strategies For Succession Planning And Leadership Training Development For Nonprofit Organizations, Isaac C. Theus

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many leaders of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) lack strategies to replace leaders who leave the organization. An organization is in jeopardy of survival without an effective leadership development and succession planning strategy. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies NPO leaders use to develop future generations for leadership roles within the organization. Data were collected from face-to face semistructured interviews with 4 executives and 2 directors of a NPO in Texas and a review of documents including organization manuals, organizational charts, the employee handbook, and a management-in-training course. The human capital theory and succession theory were used …

Strategies To Implement Efficient Closing Cycles, Mary Christine Scott

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many financial leaders lack strategies to make the timely fiscal reporting needed for business to obtain profitability, competitive advantage, and sustainability. The purpose of this single case study was to explore successful strategies used to complete efficient closing cycles to evaluate performance and support business decisions. The conceptual framework for this study was process improvement and the theory of constraints. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 5 purposively selected leaders; data were supplemented with information from the organization's website and print materials. Financial leaders who had developed successful strategies to complete timely financial statements were selected to participate in …

Law Enforcement Seat Belt Use: Impact Of Policy And Phenomena On Use, Zach Loken

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Studies show that seat belt use by law enforcement officers is estimated to be at 50%, well below the national average. The purpose of this study was to explore what may be leading to reduced seat belt use by law enforcement patrol officers while also determining if different types of policies effect the level of seat belt usage by this population. The theoretical framework used in this study was Shafritz, Ott and Jang's theory of organizational culture and change. This quantitative study was conducted using a casual, quasi-experimental design; the research questions focused on understanding what phenomena may be occurring …

Strategies Small Business Leaders Use To Reduce Employees' Resistance To Change, Mary Erekiye Tombiri

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business operations contribute to economic growth and account for 110 million new jobs in the United States. Despite the increase in the number of businesses created in the United States, some business leaders fail to manage change effectively. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies that some leaders of small businesses used to reduce employees' resistance to change. Lewin's 3-phase change theory served as the conceptual framework. The target population consisted of 3 successful leaders of small businesses in the central and southern region of Texas. Each participant had more than 5 years of …

Recruitment Strategies For A Sustainable Pipeline Of African American College Graduates As Civil Servants, Owen Wilbert Muldrow, Jr.

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Government leaders have not been successful in their strategies for developing a pipeline of African American college students to address the absence of African American representation in civil service management positions. Increasing African American representation among civil service personnel may produce a government workforce that reflects American society, which may promote equitable and responsive solutions in serving public interests. The purpose of this qualitative modified Delphi study was to build consensus among a nationwide expert panel of government-affiliated talent managers as to strategies for creating a sustainable civil service pipeline of annual graduating classes of African American collegians. The research …

Organizational Decision-Making Through Employee Diversity, Kehinde Olayinka Taiwo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The global nature of today's business environment, coupled with technological advances, compels managers to work with an increasingly diverse workforce worldwide. The purpose of this multiple-case study was to explore how bank managers used employee diversity effectively in the organizational decision-making process. Participants were 10 frontline management staff (middle and executive managers) with the required employee engagement skills involved in the decision-making process of a Nigerian bank. The conceptual framework for this study was rational choice theory, also called rational action theory or choice theory. Participants responded to 8 open-ended semistructured interview questions. The data collection process included validating and …