Business Commons^™

The Influence Of Emotional Intelligence And Personality Traits On Effective Leadership, Joy N. Cooper

Human Resource Development Theses and Dissertations

Ineffective leadership contributes to the majority of organizational problems and business failures. The negative effects of poor leadership in the health services arena is a prominent issue in today’s health services workforce, and is exacerbated by the challenges posed by the Affordable Healthcare Act of 2012. This study investigates the effects of emotional intelligence (EI) and personality traits (the Big Five), two variables commonly linked to effective leadership, within the context of healthcare.

This study examined the influence of EI and the Big Five personality traits on leadership effectiveness within a healthcare institution. The study assumed EI and the Big …

Knowledge, Technical Skills, And Employability Skills Required Of Accounting Graduates: Perceptions Of Certified Public Accountants In Mississippi, Lisa Sandifer

Dissertations

Employers report recent college graduates are not prepared for the workforce and a skills gap exists (O’Bannon, 2016). Research indicates accounting graduates do not have the skills needed when entering the workforce (Altarawneh, 2016). The skills gap is costing companies money (Nanduri, 2017). Employers report extended job vacancies cost U.S. companies close to one million dollars annually (Nanduri, 2017). Also, the skills gap costs the U.S. economy an estimated $160 billion per year (Fisher, 2014).

This research determined the knowledge, technical skills, and employability skills required of accounting graduates in the workforce as perceived by Mississippi CPAs and determined if …

Exploring Churn And Alignment Between Retention And Occupational Culture As Perceived By Professional Truck Drivers, Catherine M. Cole

Dissertations

Despite advances in logistics software and increased driver pay, the trucking industry continues a historic wave of human capital risks in the form of driver turnover and driver shortages. Previous efforts to understand the phenomenon of driver turnover rely heavily on supply chain, transportation, and logistics based disciplines. The current study provides a human capital ontology towards understanding professional truck driver perceptions. Within the interpretive framework of pragmatism, the study applied a simultaneous ethnographic and phenomenological research design to explore the phenomenon of churn and professional truck driver perceptions of environmental alignment between trucking industry retention strategies and the occupational …

Epoca House: The Implementation Strategy, Courtney Thomas, Yaffa Fain, Shuxiao Teng, Mingjun Xie

School of Professional Studies

This capstone report provides a written strategic implementation plan for EPOCA House. EPOCA, Ex-Prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement, is a non-profit dedicated to creating better resources and opportunities for prisoners and ex-prisoners in Worcester. The organization’s most recent initiative, EPOCA House, is a transitional facility that will provide reentry services and temporary housing to ex-offenders in and around the Worcester area. Recently, Massachusetts passed a comprehensive criminal justice reform bill that will dramatically reduce the number of people being incarcerated; however, little attention is focused on what will happen to individuals after they leave prison. At the same …

A Guide For Hiring Mature Employees At Ascentria, Binghe Change, Calleigh Leach, Elsie Lu, Hongquiang You, Mengge Wang, Nina Mariotti

School of Professional Studies

This paper will explore existing literature on aspects of an intergenerational workplace in a nonprofit organization and provide recommendations for recruiting and retaining older employees for a human service organization, Ascentria Care Alliance, in Worcester, MA. The paper will review research on trends in the nonprofit industry, a comprehensive breakdown of generational workplace values, reasons people are returning to work and effective marketing strategies that appeal to older generations. Marketing strategies specifically will explore best practices for website design, social media usage, and job descriptions. Additionally, this paper will research case studies of nonprofits with successful intergenerational workforce initiatives, as …

Clear The Air: Moving Towards A More Supportive, Welcoming, Tobacco-Free Clark University, Edward Aroko, Simon Elliot, Jackson Espe, Donovan Smith, Michael Spanos

School of Professional Studies

The deleterious health effects of the consumption of tobacco products, especially for youth, have been documented thoroughly and are nearly universally recognized. Numerous federal, state, and local regulations, coupled with health education and tobacco cessation initiatives have been launched to address these effects. Although these pushes have done much to reduce the rates of preventable health conditions and death due to the usage of tobacco, there remains much work to be done at the local level to discourage and disrupt patterns of substance use and abuse. The mission of Clark Clear the Air is to propose various and creative ways …

Inbound Marketing, Hasini Assiriyage, Isabelle Zoeckler, Emmanuel Aghado, Kefu Bu, Xiouyu Jiang, Rajesh Kamble, Yan Wang

School of Professional Studies

This study looks into inbound marketing practice through the process of secondary research. This insight on best practices and market examples have been employed in order to identify the benefits of Inbound Marketing for the School of Professional Studies at Clark University. Through the research, this team has consolidated a number of recommendations for the SPS marketing strategies moving forward. A focus has been placed on identifying solutions, which were effective and financially feasible. The primary solutions are internally sourced; with a future long term recommendation of seeking advice from a third party firm to automate the process.

Adult Learners: A Targeted Marketing Approach, Sarah Baldelli, Camilo Botero, Camille Ferreol, Caleb Horton, Xinyue Ma, Stefan Sprinkmoller

School of Professional Studies

The development of the Adult Learner Capstone Project started with a focus and need to learn more about affinity groups in the Worcester area in order to reach the potential adult learner demographic. Although some partnerships already existed, the Director of Marketing and Communications for Graduate Admissions, Tara Probeck, yearned to explore the potential partnerships and alternative uses of professional organizations to market to the current working professionals. From this idea, our capstone project was introduced in hopes of establishing a comprehensive and exhaustive list of potential organizational partnerships, specific for the School of Professional Studies.

My Choice Greens, Alina Zulfikarova, Amelia Mohr, Hesi Zhang, Ruiqi Huang, Sean Tatar, Yuhao Zhou, Zijun Zhou

School of Professional Studies

My Choice Programs for Independent Living is a nonprofit in Worcester, Massachusetts that helps individuals with special needs. In 2016, My Choice Programs added a branch to their organization called My Choice Greens. My Choice Greens is committed to growing fresh produce in their hydroponic farm. The profit generated from selling their vegetables is put back into direct programming for My Choice Programs. My Choice Greens is the first hydroponic farm in Worcester, but unfortunately not many people are aware of their program. Also, since they are a small nonprofit, they do not have sufficient funding or resources to market …

Optical Heritage Museum: An Interactive Touch, Connor Guerin, Ankur Halwai, Jinzhao Liu, Qi Liu, Yangjing Wang, Yashaswini Bharti

School of Professional Studies

Optical Heritage Museum (OHM) was established in 1983 with the aim to preserve, promote and display historical artifacts of the optics industry and educate all of its vital role optics has played in societal development. Over the years, the museum has grown in its physical space along with exhibit development to engage audiences in innovative, effective methods. Clark University’s School of Professional Studies department and curator of Optical Heritage Museum, Mr. Whitney’s Whitney, have establish a collaboration that has spanned over two semesters with the goal to support and aid in improving OHM. Our capstone group was assigned the task …

Leicester Research A Study In Effective Technology In Education, Jimeshkumar Chauhan, Anna Lakomy, Li Liu, Christina Mccarthy, Scott Mccarthy, Roman Pena, Emilie Smiley

School of Professional Studies

The LPS Research Team has been tasked with researching and recommending a technology plan for a new school that Leicester Public Schools is planning to build. In this paper, we present an overview of the our goals and our client’s goals, an introduction to industry trends, and discuss our findings based on research conducted via interviews with schools that have undergone similar projects. We also outline the conclusions drawn from this research and our analysis of the data we uncovered, and make specific recommendations for technology to be utilized in Leicester’s new school. Finally, we present a 3-part framework that …

Leicester Public Schools Information And Data Portal: Research And Recommendations, Yue Cen, Natalie Bonetti, Rashida Buchanan, Sathark Jain, Yuwei Wong

School of Professional Studies

The purpose of this project is to develop a strategy for the creation of a multifaceted portal to help with the organization and dissemination of information about the Leicester public school district. The functionality of this portal is to provide comparative financial, demographic, and academic data to other relative school districts in the area, both for the parents’ and for the city’s reference. It will be an examination into the best practices for creating a portal, both technological and aesthetic recommendations, as well as research into the value the publication of this data would provide for the parents of current …

Water In Worcester A Campaign For Public Fluoridation, Ryan Early, Xiao Gu, Yajing Huang, Lauren Meininger, Emma Phillips, Yao Su

School of Professional Studies

Water in Worcester: A Campaign for Public Fluoridation arose as a project from our sponsors, Chris Philbin, Vice President of Government Relations at UMass Memorial Health Care, and Joe O’Brien, former Worcester Mayor, Executive Director of the Environmental League of Massachusetts, and Clark University Adjunct Professor. Our goal has been to produce resources that will support the fight for fluoridation in the City of Worcester. Fluoridation has failed to pass in Worcester on four separate occasions, but Mr. Philbin and Mr. O’Brien believe that the time has come to try again.

In order to fluoridate Worcester’s water supply, the municipal …

Canine For Disabled Kids Awareness Campaign Research And Implementation Plan, Jiamin Gu, Kendall Harcourt, Chang Liu, Kiamu Liu, Jemmie Tejada

School of Professional Studies

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) service animals are: “dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities” ( ADA, 2015). On the other hand, emotional support animals are: “dogs that provide comfort and support in forms of affection and companionship for an individual suffering from various mental and emotional conditions.” In addition, an emotional support animal is not required to perform any specific tasks for a disability like service dogs are (Ibid).

The ADA limits the number of questions that can be asked to protect the privacy of utilizers. In fact, …

Life Can Change In The Blink Of An Eye Capstone, Christopher Rutigliano, Jillian Elalaoui, Kristin Humphrey, Phillip Gates, Mohamed Ndjikam, Highness Meena, Adam Menard, Spencer Pickney

School of Professional Studies

Texting and driving is one of the most widespread and uncontrollable of epidemics that have arose to prominence in the 21st century. Texting and driving is now a global issue, that has left nations across the road scrambling to implement new laws and preventative measures to stunt the increasing rates of accidents and fatalities caused by texting and driving. The severity of the issue has lead to a multitude of different entities ranging from domestic and foreign governments, cell phone and car manufacturers, cell phone carriers, and insurance agencies to seek new methods to prevent texting and driving. Determining the …

A Social Media Plan For The Changemakers’ Playground, Meng Cong, Ciara Kilian, Xinling Wang, Sumanth Wilson, Chenyu Yan

School of Professional Studies

The purpose of this project was to create a social media plan for the Changemakers’ Playground campaign. The Changemakers’ Playground is a website thought up by our client, Sarah Lange, whereby ordinary individuals doing extraordinary things in their community can be celebrated for the work they are doing. Each person featured on the website, also known as a Changemaker, was interviewed by Sarah and that interview was split into three videos to be posted on the Changemakers’ Playground website throughout the week they are being featured. In short, our task was to create the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram content to …

Surprisingly Open Or Openly Surprised? That Is The Question; Using Surprise Experiences To Increase Openness To Experience And Tolerance Of Ambiguity, Anneke Veenendaal-De Kort

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Using Surprise Experiences to Increase Openness to Experience and Tolerance of Ambiguity

In the fast-changing world in which we are currently living, we constantly come across situations and problems that we have not encountered before. An open mind and the ability to tolerate ambiguity are important skills in uncertain times. People who embrace the unpredictable can develop their resilience and flexibility. Surprisologists Luna and Renninger (2015) have discovered that a great way of dipping into unpredictability is through surprise. For my Master’s Project, I designed experiences that transform people’s openness and tolerance for ambiguity through surprise. This paper begins with …

Assessing Nonprofit Ceo Compensation: Does The Media Provide A Fair Perspective?, Amanda Atchison

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

The media plays an active role in forming external stakeholders’ perception of business matters. When it comes to nonprofit business, the media is a source of information that, in theory, works to bridge the gap between external stakeholders’ unfamiliarity with nonprofit regulation and what is actually required of the nonprofit sector. This concept is especially present regarding the topic of nonprofit CEO compensation. The goal of this paper is to discuss how media addresses nonprofit CEO compensation and to determine whether or not the media fairly portrays the entire story by assessing current data along with trends in historical data, …

Effective Resource Utilization In Arkansas Public Schools, Ryan Sanders

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Teacher pay in Arkansas public schools varies widely from district to district across the state. This pay discrepancy is driven by both the funds available to a district and by how these funds are allocated. There is a standard per student budget given to districts across the state, but this budget can be supplemented by additional property taxes collected on property within a district. This leaves districts with more highly valued property at an advantage. Districts are free to allocate their budget for teacher pay as they see fit, with constraints on number of students per teacher and minimum teacher …

A Qualitative Approach To Examining The Rules Of A Community College And Industry Partnership., Cara Dimattina-Ryan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine the governance structure of a successful community college and industry advisory board that collaborate to improve regional workforce development initiatives. The institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework was used as a lens to describe the partnership. The results determined that there were many informal rules that governed the relationship between the community college and industry partners, which led to successful implementation of decisions. The community college leaders created the informal rules with the purpose of encouraging involvement among industry stakeholders, sharing power among all the participants, and facilitating communication. The findings …

The Economic Impact Of A Us Tech Talent Shortage On Midwest Companies, Raul Aguilera Ramirez

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This thesis examines the economic impact that a pervasive shortage of tech talent nationwide is having on various companies in the Midwest. Per the Mid-America Regional Council, four computer-related job openings existed for every unemployed person in the Midwest in 2015. In Nebraska alone, there were 2,318 open computing jobs, with only 438 computer science graduates in the state that year. By examining this contemporary issue, I explore both the extent to which companies in the Midwest are affected by the shortage and the common practices currently in place by Midwest companies to deal with the shortage. For the scope …

The Relationship Between Job Satisfaction, Cross-Cultural Adjustment, And The Adjustment Of The Trailing Spouse On Female Expatriate Success: A Preliminary Review And Survey Proposal, Leanna Joyce Morrow

Honors Theses

As the world continually moves towards globalization and a diverse work environment, the need for employed female expatriates has never been greater. The purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of the factors affecting the successful adjustment of these women. This was done by analyzing data provided by the InterNations database in relation to three things: cross-cultural adjustment, job satisfaction, and the experience of the trailing spouse.

Based on this study, it was determined that there is a need to research the effects of marital and familial status on turnover intentions during female expatriate assignments. A survey …

An Exploratory Study Examining A Transformational Salesperson Model Mediated By Salesperson Theory-Of-Mind, Philip (Tony) A. Pizelo Dr.

Industrial-Organizational Psychology Dissertations

A customer revolution caused by the popularity of internet commerce, the reliance on social media, and the globalization of the retail industry, calls for an examination of a sales model driven by transformational salespeople. This study examined potential salesperson performance drivers and a proposed moderated mediation model of salesperson performance. This study relied upon a foundation of transformational and other leadership attributes and salesperson theory-of-mind (SToM). Although the conditional indirect effects of the model were not statistically significant, transformational leadership was found to be a statistically significant predictor of sales performance (c’=.024, t=2.63, p =.0088). Several sub-components of transformational leadership …

Extending Ab-1825 Training At Santa Clara Valley Water District, Heather Reiss

Master's Projects

In 2004 the California legislature passed AB-1825, Sexual Harassment Training and Education, Government Code 12950, which mandates that employers train all supervisors in the identification of sexual harassment, and ways to ensure that it does not occur in the workplace (Legislative Counsel, 2004). The Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) is a mission driven organization that is committed to providing excellent water services to the community. According to the Valley Water website (2018) “The mission of the District is to provide Silicon Valley with safe, clean water for a healthy life, environment, and economy” (Valley Water, 2018, web). As a …

Response Distortion On Personality Tests In Applicants: Comparing High-Stakes To Low-Stakes Medical Settings, Jeromy Anglim, Stefan Bozic, Jonathon Little, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The current study examined the degree to which applicants applying for medical internships distort their responses to personality tests and assessed whether this response distortion led to reduced predictive validity. The applicant sample (n = 530) completed the NEO Personality Inventory whilst applying for one of 60 positions as first-year post-graduate medical interns. Predictive validity was assessed using university grades, averaged over the entire medical degree. Applicant responses for the Big Five (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness) and 30 facets of personality were compared to a range of normative samples where personality was measured in standard research settings …

Do Emotionally Intelligent People Express Their Faith At Work? An Empirical Investigation, Catherine G. Shearer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The question posed is: “Do Emotionally Intelligent People Express Their Faith at Work?” This study will use self-reported measures of emotional intelligence (EQ), Faith at Work, and Religious Commitment to determine the degrees to which individuals who are members of the Johnson City Chamber of Commerce express a level of EQ as well as faith in the workplace. The current study will test each hypothesis to determine if there is a significant relationship between the four factors of EQ and faith in the Workplace. The four factors of EQ are: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, and Relationship Management.

The Impact Of Music On Task Performance At Work, Courtney Wilson

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

Music plays a big role in the daily life of an average person. Humans are almost constantly exposed to music in some form whether it is through commercials, movies, telephone music, or a variety of other sources. The centrality of music to life can be observed across cultures because music appeals to people’s “emotions and contributes to [an individual’s] ability to learn and remember information” (Brown and Brown, 1997, p. 349).

Music’s centrality to everyday life has inspired researchers to study the influence and impact that music has on individuals. Research that has been conducted over the past century has …

A Strategic Approach To Employee Retention At Nebraska Families Collaborative, Rachel Walters

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Nebraska Families Collaborative (NFC) is a nonprofit organization that supports children and families who are at risk, in eastern Nebraska. They offer a variety of services with the goal of moving children toward safety, permanency and well-being. Organizations such as NFC rely heavily on the commitment of the employees to carry out their mission, as do many other non-profit social service agencies across the country. The overall goal of the project was to identify reasons for high turnover and to identify potential solutions to reduce turnover and increase retention in the workplace at NFC. The main objectives were to analyze …

Initial Evidence Of Construct Validity Of Data From A Self-Assessment Instrument Of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (Tpack) In 2-Year Public College Faculty In Texas, Kristin C. Scott

Human Resource Development Theses and Dissertations

Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) has been studied in K-12 faculty in the U.S. and around the world using survey methodology. Very few studies of TPACK in post-secondary faculty have been conducted and no peer-reviewed studies in U.S. post-secondary faculty have been published to date. The present study is the first reliability and validity of data from a TPACK survey to be conducted with a large sample of U.S. post-secondary faculty. The professorate of 2-year public college faculty in Texas will help their institutions meet the goals of the state’s higher education strategic plan, 60x30TX. In order to do …

Effects Of Incorporating Patient Acuity Into The Rn Assignment Process, Melissa L. Forton

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

As the largest sector of healthcare, nurses are the primary providers of patient care. By 2025, it is estimated that there will be a shortage of over 250,000 registered nurses (RNs) (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2011). Factors contributing to the nursing shortage include increased complexity of patients and decreased staffing that leads to decreased job satisfaction (Fox & Abrahamson, 2009). Over half of neonatal intensive care nurses reported missing at least one nursing task per shift when staffing was inadequate or patient acuity was high (TubbsCooley, Pickler, Younger, & Mark, 2015). The purpose of this evidence-based practice (EBP) …