Business Commons^™

Midlevel Nonclinical Healthcare Leaders' Awareness Of Leadership Competence, Denise Estelle Wiseman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Effective leadership in healthcare improves the patient experience. Self-awareness drives leadership development, competence, and, in turn, leader effectiveness. The problem addressed by this study was the absence of knowledge regarding how healthcare leaders develop awareness of their leadership strengths and weaknesses: their competence. The purpose of this postintentional phenomenological study was to explore how healthcare leaders develop this awareness. Twelve midlevel nonclinical healthcare leaders from 3 hospitals in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States shared their experiences during semistructured interviews. Participants and their organizations contributed supporting documentation of competence and performance expectations. Following Vagle's postintentional process, data were …

Voluntary Employee Turnover: Retaining High-Performing Healthcare Employees, Jesse J. Boyd

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Voluntary employee turnover in the healthcare industry is one of the most expensive and disruptive business problems that healthcare organizations encounter. Healthcare organizations can expect employee replacement costs to represent up to 150% of a departing employee's annual salary in new employee acquisition and decreased productivity. Guided by the leader-member exchange theory, the purpose of this single case study was to explore the strategies healthcare managers used to retain high-performing healthcare employees. Using semistructured interviews, the targeted population encompassed 6 healthcare managers from a healthcare organization in Central Texas who have demonstrated successful strategies for retaining high-performing healthcare employees by …

Strategies To Sustain Positive Leader-Employee Relationships To Increase Productivity, Bont'e Twyman-Abrams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Senior executive leaders face ongoing challenges assessing whether their leadership teams have the competencies to respond to rapidly changing business conditions resulting from negative leader-employee interactions. The purpose of this qualitative single-unit case study was to explore strategies that team leaders at an online, for-profit high school education system located in Delaware, used to sustain positive leader-employee relationships to increase employee productivity. The population consisted of 5 current team leaders (faculty members and executives) at the study site who had experienced team member losses, yet had implemented effective strategies to sustain positive leader-employee relationships and increased employee productivity. The conceptual …

The Trilogy Of Science: Filling The Knowledge Management Gap With Knowledge Science And Theory, Anthony Shawn Bates

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The international knowledge management field has different ways of investigating, developing, believing, and studying knowledge management. Knowledge management (KM) is distinguished deductively by know-how, and its intangible nature establishes different approaches to KM concepts, practices, and developments. Exploratory research and theoretical principles have formed functional intelligences from 1896 to 2013, leading to a knowledge management knowledge science (KMKS) concept that derived a grounded theory of knowledge activity (KAT). This study addressed the impact of knowledge production problems on KM practice. The purpose of this qualitative meta-analysis study was to fit KM practice within the framework of knowledge science (KS) study. …

Stakeholder Influence In Promoting Environmental Sustainability In The Zambian Mining Industry, Helen Mbewe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mining operations often cause environmental and social problems for communities. Efforts by major stakeholders in most developing countries to create and enforce an ethical framework for mining industry operations have been inconsistent. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study, which was based on stakeholder theory, was to explore stakeholders' perspectives on the implementation of environmental policies and mining operations in Zambia. Data collection involved semistructured interviews with a purposeful sample of 24 research participants from a copper mining company operating in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia, the government ministry for mining, energy, and water development, the environmental protection agency, …

A Comparison Between Administrative Leadership In Higher Education And Change-Oriented Leadership In Banks, Glenn King Jr

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizational environments continually change. Organizations that do not meet the demands for change do not survive. The required changes differ for banks versus universities, suggesting that leaders in each type of organization need to use unique styles to adapt to their unique environments. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to test a contingency theory of leadership that leaders of banks are change-oriented, whereas leaders of higher educational institutions are administrative in their style. The research questions dealt with differences in the uncertainty of internal operations and the external environment of banks versus universities, and the leadership style most …

Strategies For Managing The Shortages Of Registered Nurses, Jody-Kay Mcfarlane Peterson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that healthcare facility leaders in Central Minnesota use to recruit and retain qualified nurses. Participants were 6 healthcare facility leaders including 2 nursing directors, 2 human resource personnel, 1 nurse supervisor/administrator, and 1 nurse recruiter who had the knowledge and experience in recruitment and retention of Registered Nurses (RNs) in healthcare facilities in Central Minnesota. The Herzberg 2-factor theory was the conceptual framework. Semistructured interviews were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using Morse's 4 steps data analysis process. The major themes were recruitment strategies and retention incentives. …

Effects Of Change Valence And Informational Assessments On Organizational Readiness For Change, James Edward Phillips

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nearly two-thirds of organizational change initiatives are unsuccessful due to a lack of high levels of change readiness prior to implementation of the change. A review of the literature supported the importance of establishing organizational readiness for change (ORC), but a gap remained in the empirical data and extant literature about whether presumed antecedents identified in ORC theory contribute to increased levels of ORC. The purpose of this study was to gather empirical data to address this question of whether change valence and informational assessment scores are associated with increased levels of organizational readiness for implementing change. The research design …

Virtual Team Success: The Impact Of Leadership Style And Project Management Experience, Albert Udom

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The ability of project managers to effectively lead virtual teams is an important factor in the teams' success. Since the 1990s, organizations' use of virtual teams to plan and execute projects has increased, yet virtual teams continue to have high failure rates. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine whether a relationship exists between leadership styles, years of project management experience, and success of virtual teams. I used the path-goal theory of leadership as the theoretical framework for this study. A nonpurposive random sample of 160 project managers in the San Francisco Bay Area who had obtained the …

Leader - Member Exchange And Performance In Nonprofit Human Services Organizations, Charles A. Archer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Success of nonprofit human services organizations depends upon the ability to cultivate high quality performance among staff members. Employees of such organizations experience lower job satisfaction when managers disregard their opinions or treat them as unimportant. The purpose of this qualitative, exploratory case study was to explore employees' perspectives on the quality of their relationships with their supervisors and impacts of that perception on job performance. The central research questions regarded how employees understood those relationships and their impact on their work success. Using the framework of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, which centers upon the employee-supervisor relationship, data were collected …

Examining The Relationship Between Communication Apprehension And Individual Innovativeness In Managers, Michelle Campagnola

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Communicative challenges that hinder managerial engagement in social networks can impede innovation adoption and thereby damage the financial performance and competitiveness of a firm. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between communication apprehension (CA) and individual innovativeness in managers. The focus of the research questions was determining if a relationship exists between these variables before and after controlling for demographic characteristics. With diffusion of innovation theory as the theoretical framework, this research involved an attempt to address how adoption categories relate to varying degrees of CA. One hundred and five American-based owner-executives, senior managers, and …

Evaluating Sociotechnical Factors Associated With Telecom Service Provisioning: A Case Study, Fahad Iqbal

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Provisioning Internet services remains an area of concern for Internet service providers. Despite investments to improve resources and technology, the understanding of sociotechnical factors that influence the service-provisioning life cycle remains limited. The purpose of this case study was to evaluate the influence of sociotechnical factors associated with telecom service provisioning and to explore the critical success and failure factors, specifically in the telecommunication industry of Kuwait. Guided by sociotechnical systems theory, this qualitative exploratory case study approach examined a purposeful sample of 19 participants comprising of managers, engineers, and technicians who had the knowledge and experience of the service-provisioning …

Minimizing Nepotistic Practices In Family Owned And Operated Businesses: The Private Sector, Darlene Thomas Thomas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Owners of family businesses in the private sector must be cognizant of nepotism to reduce skilled employee turnover. Guided by Herzberg two-factor theory as the conceptual framework, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies used by family owned and operated business leaders to minimize nepotistic practices that reduce skilled nonfamily employees' voluntary turnover. The population for this study included 3 family owned and operated funeral establishments in the Midwest region of St. Louis, Missouri. These participants had sustained their family businesses longer than 5 years while minimizing skilled nonfamily employees' voluntary turnover. Data were collected from …

Outcomes Of Fdi In Mississippi: The Cases Of Nissan And Toyota, Cayla Cardamone

Honors Theses

My original motivation for selecting this topic for my Croft thesis was to examine an issue that is of community relevance in Mississippi and could reveal how multiple global regions intersect and affect the quality of life in Mississippi. Guided by this motivation, I decided to examine whether the expected effects of Japanese FDI projects in Mississippi have been achieved in terms of job creation relative to both job quantity and job quality. My particular analytical focus has been on the job-creation effects of the Nissan plant in Canton and the Toyota plant in Blue Springs. For my analysis, I …

Strategic Recommendation For Evertec, Inc., Talia Zook

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Our research seeks to improve the operational effectiveness of Latin American transaction processing firm Evertec, headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The unstable economic status of Puerto Rico—as the site of headquarters and as the source of approximately 7% of Evertec’s total revenue—is of external concern, though there are promising technological trends occurring in much of Latin America. The risk of entry by potential competitors in industry appears high, but all other risks as outlined by Michael Porter’s Five Forces are low, indicating an attractive market. Internally, Evertec exhibits several core competencies, including innovation, end-to-end (comprehensive) service, community service/social responsibility, …

Why Referees Stay In The Game, Lynn L. Ridinger, Stacy Warner, Jacob K. Tingle, Kyungun R. Kim

School of Business Faculty Research

Current trends indicate the number of qualified sports officials continues to dwindle. Therefore, this research sought to better understand reasons for initial entry, continuation, and potential discontinuation with officiating, while also identifying problematic issues, and potential solutions. Content analysis was utilized to examine five open-ended online survey responses from 2,485 referees. The results indicate that Enjoyable Affiliation (58%) and Remuneration (14%) were key to referees becoming involved in officiating. Those two themes, Enjoyable Affiliation (75%) and Remuneration (14%), were also identified as important to retaining officials. Physical Limitations were mentioned by 58% of the respondents regarding why they plan to …

Mantras Ambulance Services, Inc. Case 2: A Buyer-Side Business Valuation Case, J. R. Jones, P. D. Hutchison, Amy Foshee Holmes

School of Business Faculty Research

“2017 is going to be an exciting year for your company, Daniel! I just received the requested information from that company that you are interested in buying. I’ll forward the information to you by email attachment, and I will get started on the analysis.” Penny knew that her boss, Daniel, would be anxious to review and discuss the new information on a potential acquisition, so she cleared her desk off to focus on the analysis.

Daniel Gustafson started his company, QRT Ambulance Services, Inc. in 2010. He wanted to quickly expand operations, so his business strategy was to buy existing …

African American Graduates' Experiences Of Managing College Debt, Christal Blalock

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Higher education is a means to improve professional status and economic mobility; however, mounting college debt has become a hindrance to college graduates, primarily African Americans. A disproportionate number of these graduates incur significant debt while attending college. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of African American college graduates who were managing debt incurred to pay for their education. Human capital theory and critical race theory provided the conceptual framework. Two research questions motivated this study: How do African American college graduates living in the state of Georgia manage their college debt? What …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Organizational Effectiveness Of Three Korea Land And Housing Corporation Construction Field Groups, Jachoon Koo

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to propose a performance evaluation method (organizational effectiveness value) that is most suitable for LH field organizations and to suggest an improvement plan by comparing and analyzing the results from organizational perspective.

I compared and contrasted three LH construction fields. The following is my research findings: First, the main factors which determine successful or unsuccessful field are organizational cohesion and inter-organizational communication. Mutual communication of field groups affects the quality more, if the field conditions are difficult. Second, if field groups fail to cohere and communicate, it is likely to lead to low performance …

Education's Loss Of The Public: An Archival Exploration Of American Public Schools' Diminishing Social Returns And The Emerging Utility Of Social Entrepreneurship, Tia Ha-Quyen Ho

Scripps Senior Theses

The literature presented in the following pages explores the shortcomings of the American public education system in the context of creating long-term, sustainable social change. Using financial illiteracy and its relationship to low quality of life as an entry point, the first section exposes public schools’ shortcomings as agents of social change by delving into the hardships endured by the original public school promoters of the 19^th century, the pitfalls of President George W. Bush’s 2001 enactment of No Child Left Behind, and the shortcomings of the financial literacy programming that found traction in urban schools following the subprime …

Small Business Strategies For Sustainability Beyond 10 Years, Gabriel E. Warren, Lynn Szostek

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Small businesses are vital to the health of the U.S. economy, as they account for approximately 50% of all jobs and 99% of all firms. Historically, there has been a problem with small businesses being able to sustain their operations beyond 10 years. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, when averaged across all industries, approximately 75% of new businesses failed within the first 5 years. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the business strategies some small business owners use to sustain their company beyond 10 years of operation. Data were gathered through semistructured interviews and …

Effects Of Transformational Leadership On Fire Lieutenant Development, Angelo Lamar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research does not sufficiently address how fire lieutenants in the central United States experience leadership development. Leadership development training, coaching, and mentoring are important processes that prepare followers to become effective leaders in public safety organizations. The intent of this qualitative research study was to explore the lived experiences and stories of fire lieutenants to obtain a clear understanding of how transformational leadership training was perceived to affect their careers. Face-to-face interviews from a purposeful sample of 7 fire suppression lieutenants queried 3 relevant areas derived from the literature, comprising of transformational leadership, critical success factors, and mentoring and coaching. …

Overcoming The Adverse Impact Of Internal Subculture Communications Within Organizations, Terrence Lee Farrier

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The need for clear and organizationally effective communications is necessary to maintain sustainability as competition increases. Current research has not addressed problems associated with senior managers' clarity and intent and the misinterpretation by midlevel managers of that intent, causing division managers to misinterpret the company plans. Unresolved miscommunications may lead to destructive subculture development. This mixed methods design focused on how to minimize the confusion that manifests between senior and midlevel management within diverse and decentralized decision support structures. The secondary purpose was to advocate for the identification of divisional misalignment and provide information for a tool to help senior …

Strategies Used By Banking Managers To Reduce Employee Turnover, Amena Shahid

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee retention of an organization's most talented and skilled employees is vital to success. A lack of managerial strategies for motivating teams and a lack of understanding employees' needs adds to an increased rate of employee turnover in banking organizations. Some bank managers do not possess the abilities and strategies required to reduce employee turnover. Grounded by the motivation-hygiene theory; the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore successful strategies some bank managers used to reduce employee turnover. The population consisted of 5 banking managers in 3 banking organizations located in Toronto GTA, Ontario Canada in which successful …

Millennials On The Move, But To Where?, Zach Kisor, Shelby Hoge, Ashley Cosher, Bethany Gump, Derek Carson, Kristi Mitchell

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The following reports discuss the geographical preferences of Millennials in relation to job selection preferences. Our team analyzed the moving trends of Millennials in both Ohio and the United States to determine what factors influence this decision. Collectively, our team concluded that in order to successfully recruit Millennials, companies must offer benefit packages that center around work-life balance. This entails not just highlighting what a job requires technically, but opportunities for leadership development, social activities outside of work, and more. To recruit this upcoming talent, companies need a holistic approach that convinces Millennials that working for their company creates a …

Effects Of Workplace Environment On Recruitment And Retention, Gino Ciarimboli, Madison Frericks, Tyler Riemenschneider, Michael O'Neill

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Recruitment and retention are affected by numerous factors, including the environment present at a workplace, as well as by the tangible and intangible benefits offered by a company. This research seeks to define numerous discrete elements that can sway a recent college graduate whether to ultimately accept a position offered to them. Identified were three key areas of improvement at the target client, the J.M. Smucker Company, including customizable desk spaces, differentiated departmental designs, and a full-scope health and wellness program. These areas were further recommended within the context of the client's workspace to enhance their recruiting and retention efforts.

Experiential Learning And Its Place In A Quality Business Education, Zach Gollwitzer, Callie Mack, Brenna Mack

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In this paper, the authors explore experiential learning pedagogy in the context of a business education based on the research of John Dewey (1897), David Kolb (2005), and Scott Wurdinger (2009). In addition to examining the definition of experiential learning and the various implementations of it, this research includes an examination of the business school standards body (AASCB) and of the components in a quality business education. The authors then delve into a literature review of experiential learning, which explores the social structure of education (Dewey, 1897), the process of experiential learning (Kolb, 2005), and specific experiential learning methods (Wurdinger, …

Brunswick Schools Video Program Social Media Campaign, Nicole Rhoades

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This social media campaign is to be executed by student managers within the Brunswick Schools Video Program. The Video Program provides journalistic experience to young students by immersing them in print and broadcast journalism that is provided to the Brunswick-area through Brunswick Educational Access Television.

Toward A Unified Theory Of Business Information, Hal P. Kirkwood Jr

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This article analyses and discusses concepts of business information, with a view to developing a unified theory of business information to help underpin professional information work.

The Association Between Family Leisure And Family Quality Of Life: A Meta-Analysis Of Data From Parents And Adolescents, Camilla Hodge, Mat D. Duerden, Eric K. Layland, Andrew Lacanienta, Michael C. Goates, Xiaoyue Maggie Niu

Faculty Publications

The body of family leisure research has grown over the past 25 years; however, efforts to quantitatively synthesize that body of literature have not been made. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis of published and unpublished literature reporting on parent and adolescent child data regarding shared leisure experiences and family quality-of-life indicators across k=23 articles identified from a broad, systematic search of literature. Using random effects, we measured the associations of (a) family leisure participation with family quality of life and (b) family leisure satisfaction with family quality of life. Results indicated significant associations of small to moderate effect sizes in …