Business Commons^™

The Interplay Between Change And Project Management For Business Results, Taiwo O.O. Abraham

Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigates the potential interplay between change management and project management. The research aims to determine the causal effect between the two concepts. Data is collected from a focus group comprised of various managers. The study concludes that managers readily apply the concepts of both change management and PM when making decisions. Also, there is significant appreciation of the value of both PM and change management in the contemporary business environment. Future studies need to investigate the relevance of the change management models on PM strategies.

The Relationships Between Managerial Metacognition, Total Quality Management, And A Firm's Sustainable Competitive Advantages: An Empirical Investigation Based On Structural Equation Modeling Analysis, Young Sik Cho

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this study is to explore how managerial metacognition has an influence on the effective implementation of total quality management (TQM) and the creation of a firm’s sustainable competitive advantages (P) by using the lens of Resource-Based View (RBV). In particular, this study conceptualized the existing TQM framework by two sub-constructs, technical quality management (TQ) and behavioral quality management (BQ) practices, and newly proposed the sequential relationship of 'TQ→BQ→P' based on the premise of the RBV. In addition, through post-hoc analysis, this study tested the mediation effect of a firm's TQ practices on the relationship between managerial metacognition …

Can I Smile With Spirit? Towards A Process Model Associating Workplace Spirituality And Emotional Labor, Ashwini Gangadharan

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Workplace spirituality (WS) is a framework of organizational values embedded in the culture of the organization that promotes employees to experience a sense of meaningfulness at work, sense of connection with coworkers, congruence of organizational values with theirs' and experience transcendence through their work. This dissertation presents workplace spirituality as an organizational intervention to manage the problem of emotional labor and its dysfunctional consequences among the service employees.

The main thesis of the dissertation is that workplace spirituality will enable service employees to appraise emotional labor as a positive stressor (challenge stressor) rather than a negative stressor (hindrance stressor). The …

Does Optimism Pass On To The Employees? The Impact Of Supervisor Optimism On Employees In Small And Medium Sized Businesses, Roger S. Brown

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The focus of this dissertation primarily examines the optimism contagion from the supervisor to his/her employees. Though the literature has discussed different types of optimism such as dispositional optimism (Scheier & Carver, 2006; Chang, 1998; Segerstrom, 2006) and unrealistic optimism (Weinstein, 1980; McKenna, 1993; Radcliffe & Klein, 2002), this paper will focus on trait and state optimism. State optimism (which relates to particular situation) is theorized as being easily transferrable when compared to trait optimism. The level of the transfer will depend on the emotional expressivity of the supervisor. The facets of emotional expressivity are impulse strength, positive expressivity and …

Assessing The Impact Of Conflict-Type On Decision-Effectiveness In Top Management Teams: The Moderating Effect Of Attributions, Emotions, Conflict-Handling Behavior, And The Environment, Kevin J. Hurt

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Conflict is considered a multi-dimensional concept conveying both constructive and destructive overtones. Within a strategic decision-making team, conflict can have positive and negative effects, which collectively are considered `paradoxical' because they can simultaneously lead to improved group decisions along with decreased member commitment. Decision quality and commitment to the decision are a requisite of high performance; yet, some suggest that these cannot co-exist because of conflict's paradoxical effects in the decision-making process. The early consensus on conflict research suggests that one form of conflict, i.e. cognitive, yields positive effects, whereas another form of conflict, i.e. affective, yields negative results. Not …

The Influence Of Venture Creation Stage On The Relationship Between Environmental Context And Social Network Orientation Among U.S. Minority Groups, Tammi C. Redd

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The percentage of minorities who have owned successful small businesses in the U.S. has been astonishingly lower than that of Mainstreams. An important underlying challenge for minority entrepreneurs is the ability to development and maintain social network connections. This research investigates the role urban and rural environments play in the new venture creation process among U.S. minority groups. Specifically, this dissertation will focus on issues relating to network scope, networking ability and strength and network relationships at different stages of the venture creation process. The environmental contexts of both the urban entrepreneur and that of the rural American entrepreneur will …

Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Collectivism, And Job Satisfaction: Evidence From Mexico, Miguel Angel Baeza

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this dissertation was to conduct a field study in a Mexican company in several Mexican regions. This study considered administrative professionals as a continuation to assess the validity of a recently developed Mexican Border OCB (MBOCB) scale by Ortiz (2000). This validation/refinement of an MBOCB scale was accomplished by comparing and contrasting results of this investigation, given the name of Mexican OCB (MOCB), with other OCB dimensions studies in other regions in order to evaluate criterion validity (e.g., convergent and discriminat) through factor loadings. Furthermore, this dissertation categorized these MOCB dimensions into more conceptualized terms utilized by …

A Qualitative Study Of The Hispanic Gender Role And Social-Cultural Factors Influencing The Attraction Process: The Recruitment Of The Latina To Meet 21st Century Labor Shortage Challenges In America, Olga Chapa

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Approximately one-fourth of the 303,824,640 individuals representing the labor workforce in the United States (U.S.) are part of the baby boom cohort (Toossi, 2004). Seventy eight million individuals are credited for the shifting demographics in the U.S. The largest gap in the labor force will be seen in the professional arena (Hilton, 2008). In order to proactively meet the challenge of a future labor shortage, organizations will need to focus their recruitment effort on the remaining replacement pool of qualified individuals. For a variety of reasons, the recruitment of the Hispanic as a sustainable and growing replacement pool offers many …

The Mediating Role Of Organizational Learning Between Absorptive Capacity And Performance In Companies Employing Enterprise Resource Planning Software, Edith Galy

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This dissertation focuses on the acquisition of information systems technology and how the acquisition of information systems (IS) can improve the performance of a firm. The central purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to the literature that explains the success of IS projects. It addresses the organizational processes that contribute to the successful implementation of IS, and explains why some organizations achieve financial returns and strategic advantages from their IS efforts while others do not.

The population in this dissertation consists of top level IS executives in the US or Canada employed in firms who have implemented enterprise resource …

Factors Affecting Learning Effectiveness In International Joint Ventures (Ijv): An Empirical Analysis Of Indian Ijvs, Sameer P. Vaidya

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Increasing globalization of the business environment has prompted companies to form cross-border alliances. The need to form joint ventures is evident from the increase in the number of international joint ventures (IJV) in the US as well as in other nations. Researchers are also attempting to identify relationships that foster longevity in IJVs. This study contributes to the research in the field of IJVs by examining issues relating to the learning effectiveness of IJVs. Research (Harrigan, 1985; Kogut, 1998; Beamish, 1994) has shown that there are three main approaches for joint venture formation, which are transaction cost approach, strategic behavior …

Corporate Diversification And The Effects Of Firm Characteristics On Diversification Modes: United States, European And Japanese Firm Behavior, Somkiat Mansumitrchai

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Many studies have examined corporate diversification (Porter, 1987; Ramanujam and Varadarajan, 1989; Markides and Williamson, 1994; Markides, 1995). A classical study of diversification transactions of 33 U.S. industrial firms during 1950–1986 by Porter (1987) provided historical background on U.S. leading firms during four decades. Porter (1987) found that U.S. large industrial firms were more active in acquisitions than other diversification modes such as joint ventures and startups. His study also shows that U.S. industrial firms divested many business units they had acquired, indicating unsuccessful diversification strategy.

I extended Porter's (1987) study to investigate the diversification behavior of the same U.S. …