Business Commons^™

Soft System Methodology Applied To Stakeholder Engagement In Social Services Nonprofit Organizations, Robyn Chin

Full-Text Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explored the challenges of a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), a non-profit social service organization, and the value of employing a systems thinking approach to problem formulation and problem-solving to address its challenges. Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), a systems-informed framework, encourages collective learning and fosters an appreciation for differing perspectives about problem formulation amongst stakeholders instead of rushing to solve predefined issues. One common challenge from current research is that due to reliance on sparse profits and grants earmarked for programmatic endeavors, there is insufficient funding for organizational development. The literature also identified a deficit in stakeholder engagement …

System View Of The Talent Gap In The Commercial Property And Casualty Insurance Sector: A Pre-Mortem, Bibi R. Khan

Full-Text Theses & Dissertations

The commercial property and casualty insurance industry play an essential role by providing critical strategic benefits to society and fueling the economy through risk transfer. The literature review concludes that the industry faces a looming talent crisis, and although the industry leaders are aware of the problem, there is no apparent strategy to address it. Therefore, ascertaining strategies to address the problem requires an understanding of the current state of the property and casualty system.

This study applied system thinking methodology and interactive planning method of intervention to understand how and why the system operates the way it currently does, …

Innovative, Social Organic - Alternative Business Model, Paul Thomas Raison, Jr.

Full-Text Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation aims to describe how I can create a new business model to address the need to intervene in systemic issues in an organization (i.e., decision making, cultural gaps, role definition, conflict styles, business practices, value proposition, process capability, and data collection) and its community (i.e., alcoholism, blight, crime, disease, drug addiction, education reform, and underserved community unemployment) and create a better interdependent connection between strategic management, business model innovation, financial planning, corporate sustainability, and economic development processes in a business model to improve systemic issues in an organization, and community permitting it to perform effective and efficient social …

An Inclusive Leadership Model To Integrate Organizational Dynamics, Change Management, Change Leadership, And Diversity And Inclusion Needs For The Successful Implementation Of Business Transformations, Jarrod A. Combs-Harris

Full-Text Theses & Dissertations

This paper explores Change Management and Change Leadership theories in-depth, along with an analysis of how Diversity and Inclusion drivers play a significant role in how businesses can sustain successful transformations. In the past, experts focused on how change initiatives can help transform businesses on a macro level, regardless of employee factors. In most recent times, the world has evolved to include diversity and inclusion initiatives that will consider broader perspectives from communities who were once silent.

Historically, change management theories of yesteryear focused on how to execute change in a myriad of ways. Some theories were more tactical in …

A Systems Approach To Student Loan Default, David J. Williams

Full-Text Theses & Dissertations

Total U.S. student loan debt has now reached $1.6 trillion accumulated by approximately 45 million Americans. While viable options exist, many do not adequately know of them or how to act on them the outcome of which is that many people with relatively small manageable debt are defaulting. Beneficial, financial student loan programs are vastly underutilized for many reasons one of which is poor financial literacy. In this dissertation, I argue that acquiring financial literacy is a system challenge. The model to support this hypothesis posits a system with inputs, an internal transformation process, outcomes, and a feedback loop. The …

Interactive Planning: An Applied Systems Thinking Approach From The Perspective Of A Participant-Observer, Pamela R. Tull

Full-Text Theses & Dissertations

The systems approach to thinking is at a precipice. Our world is composed of systems and sub-systems so intrinsically linked that any attempt to make changes can upset system interdependencies. Systems thinking is a mindset and method of thinking and seeing things as “wholes,” patterns, interconnections, and interdependencies rather than analyzed parts and sub-parts. The systems approach and the methodologies informed by this approach offer an improved understanding of organizational performance.

The systems methodology of interactive planning involves organizational stakeholders as the key ingredient to idealize creative outcomes for organizational problems. The interactive planning process involves carrying out a mess …