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Full-Text Articles in Business

Appreciative Inquiry-Based Intervention: A Network View Of Organizational Renewal, Thomas H. Carlson Dec 2007

Appreciative Inquiry-Based Intervention: A Network View Of Organizational Renewal, Thomas H. Carlson

Student Scholarship

This paper describes the design, conduct and outcomes of an Appreciative Inquiry-based intervention. The subject group was a newly formed unit of a health care organization. The unit was formed by merging elements of two preexisting groups, and was guided by inexperienced managers. Previous interaction between those groups had been characterized by distrust and competition. Appreciative Inquiry provided the foundation for the intervention. Members of the unit galvanized around identified strengths, shared values and beliefs, shared perspectives, and a positive vision of their future; the normative-relational aspect of the intervention. On that foundation, members of the unit developed generative skills …


Betting On Catastrophe: The Private Sector And Anti-Terrorism Spending For Physical Security, James K. Hayes Dec 2007

Betting On Catastrophe: The Private Sector And Anti-Terrorism Spending For Physical Security, James K. Hayes

Student Scholarship

The cost of protecting U.S. private sector critical infrastructure assets is estimated at $10 billion per year. This qualitative research examined the incentives and obstacles for the willing expenditure on terrorism protection by American business, revealing that the implementation of security measures beyond the private sector's day-to-day operational risks have characteristics similar to the private provision of a public good. Notions of moral hazard created by government actions in response to catastrophic events can have an effect that is at odds with encouraging greater private spending in this area. This paper may have important implications for policy-makers looking to address …


Championing "Tough Issues": How Women And Men Corporate Directors Contribute Differently To Board Deliberations, Nancy E. Mcinerney-Lacombe Dec 2007

Championing "Tough Issues": How Women And Men Corporate Directors Contribute Differently To Board Deliberations, Nancy E. Mcinerney-Lacombe

Student Scholarship

A qualitative study of eleven male and eleven female directors was undertaken to investigate gender differences relating to championing tough issues at the board. This study demonstrated that men and women at the board share common mechanisms in the championing process. Correspondingly, they also evidenced notable differences. A championing model is presented to examine the gendered differences of the "tough issues" championing process. The model incorporates (1) the preconditions to championing, (2) the board environment that impacts the choice to champion (3) the influencing factors that impact the engagement process (4) the engagement style of the champions and (5) the …


Pruning The Garden Of Successors: Daughters, Sons, And Succession In Family Businesses, Kathyann Kessler Overbeke Dec 2007

Pruning The Garden Of Successors: Daughters, Sons, And Succession In Family Businesses, Kathyann Kessler Overbeke

Student Scholarship

This paper describes selection processes of successors in family businesses with respect to daughters of family business owners. Statistics reveal a paucity of daughters in the ranks of successors. Understanding of this issue might identify beliefs and practices within business owning families that may contribute to the success or failure of transitioning from one generation to the next. A conceptual model was developed based on the decision making process described by The Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1985). A qualitative approach was used to investigate this phenomenon allowing for feelings, stories, and reflective thought to emerge and provide insights into …


Returning To Stay?: Young Adult Commitment In Chinese Protestant Churches In The United States, Cecilia C. Chan Dec 2007

Returning To Stay?: Young Adult Commitment In Chinese Protestant Churches In The United States, Cecilia C. Chan

Student Scholarship

Many Chinese Protestant churches in North America have noted a severe membership reduction due to the exiting of second generation Asian Americans, i.e. American-Raised Chinese (ARC) and American-Born Chinese (ABC). This research investigates why 22- to 35-year-old young adults return or do not return to Chinese churches after a hiatus usually caused by relocation to attend college. The purpose of the study is to examine motives of these young adults, to examine the nature and extent of their commitment and loyalty to the church and to consider how acculturation and cultural conflicts influence retention decisions. Our findings may allow church …


Sensemaking And Meaning-Arbitrage In Loosely-Coupled Healthcare Organizations, Sridhar Belavadi Seshadri Dec 2007

Sensemaking And Meaning-Arbitrage In Loosely-Coupled Healthcare Organizations, Sridhar Belavadi Seshadri

Student Scholarship

Academic Medical Centers (AMC), despite their research and educational prowess, are in a financial crisis. Increasing costs, stiffer competition, and anticipated tightening of budgets have created new levels of urgency among medical school deans and hospital CEOs to increase the efficiency of the clinical enterprise. This study models an AMC as a loosely coupled system and examines why interdisciplinary teams—comprising administrators, physicians, and nurses—struggle to successfully reengineer healthcare processes. Semi- structured interviews in an U.S. AMC were the basis for the development of a grounded theory framework. The findings suggest that: (a) the ambivalent culture of an AMC alternately supports …


Service Feature Considerations For Developing Consumer Satisfaction In Online Environments, Matthew J. Gymer Nov 2007

Service Feature Considerations For Developing Consumer Satisfaction In Online Environments, Matthew J. Gymer

Student Scholarship

Self-service technologies (SSTs) and customer-vendor participation (co-production) are important features in the service encounter, yet there is much to learn about these service features relationship to customer satisfaction. The literature is rich with evidence of SSTs importance to forming customer satisfaction, but there is scant empirical evidence pointing to the role of co-production in forming customer satisfaction in online service encounters. It is hypothesized that within the online service encounter, features of co-production are significant predictors of customer satisfaction. Survey data show that customers differentiate the service features of co-production from the service features of SSTs. Furthermore, these two service …


Information And Inventory In Distribution Channels, Rakesh Kumar Niraj Aug 2007

Information And Inventory In Distribution Channels, Rakesh Kumar Niraj

Faculty Scholarship

We examine the trade-offs between demand information and inventory in a distribution channel. While better demand information has a positive direct effect for the manufacturer in improving the efficiency of holding inventory in a channel, it can also have the strategic effect of increasing retail prices and limiting the extraction of retail profits. Having inventory in the channel can help the manufacturer to manage retail pricing behavior while better extracting retail surplus. Thus, even if the information system is perfectly reliable, the manufacturer might not always want to institute an information-enabled channel over a channel with inventory. We show this …


Trap, Escape And Vision Integration: Key Adaptive Challenges Of Leadership In Conflict, Tin Muang Than Aug 2007

Trap, Escape And Vision Integration: Key Adaptive Challenges Of Leadership In Conflict, Tin Muang Than

Student Scholarship

The paper identifies trap, escape and vision integration as adaptive challenges to leadership in conflict, particularly in the context of Burma, where military government and elected parties have been in political impasse since 1990 elections. International sanctions and constructive engagement strategies have failed to bring the parties to the table. Burmese opposition leaders have found that other parties are simply unwilling to begin negotiations. In this context, what can opposition leaders do when a major actor of conflict is reluctant to enter into negotiation? Concepts are mainly drawn from theories of leadership, conflict and group. The research objective is to …


Maximizing Large Organization Performance By Uncovering Engaged Employees, Michael W. Bowling Jul 2007

Maximizing Large Organization Performance By Uncovering Engaged Employees, Michael W. Bowling

Student Scholarship

Organizations face a daunting challenge as they grow. Multiple studies and theories have been developed defining the challenge of large firms including loss of control, loss of task visibility, increasing agency and monitoring costs and misalignment of incentives between the owners and managers of large firms. Examining the theories of Propensity to Withhold Effort, Organizational Commitment Behavior and Employee Engagement this paper seeks to explore the factors that inhibit employees to give the rational level of effort versus the environments where employees to go beyond expectations.


Who We Are Drives What We Do: The Interplay Of Identity On Workplace Behaviors, Monika L. Hudson Jul 2007

Who We Are Drives What We Do: The Interplay Of Identity On Workplace Behaviors, Monika L. Hudson

Student Scholarship

This empirical study is designed to examine issues associated with who people believe they are and the effect that that has on how they behave. Specifically, it considers the separate and combined effect of three individually focused identity constructs-organizational, ethnic, and professional identity--on workplace behaviors perceived by the person or significant others as being either socially desirable or deviant. The behaviors are examined from the perspective of whether they are directed toward fellow employees or the work institution itself. The paper also considers whether two dimensions of organizational culture moderate the identity-influenced expressions of particular behaviors. Information was gathered from …


From Learned To Learning: Why Addiction To Learning Is Vital To Renewing Competitive Advantage, Radhashyam Giridharadas Jun 2007

From Learned To Learning: Why Addiction To Learning Is Vital To Renewing Competitive Advantage, Radhashyam Giridharadas

Student Scholarship

Business strategists seek to create a sustainable competitive advantage so that their organizations thrive. Yet in industry after industry the corporate graveyards are lined with companies that once led an industry and were subsequently ousted by smaller, nimbler competitors or new entrants. The long list of failed organizations underscores the challenge to the notion of sustainability. Clearly competitive advantage is subject to constant erosion, and companies seeking a sustainable competitive advantage may be chasing an illusory goal. To thrive, companies must learn to adapt their skills, resources and experience and transform them into renewable competitive advantages that are commensurate with …


Globalized Medicine: Panacea Or Bitter Pill?, Dinesh Shah Jun 2007

Globalized Medicine: Panacea Or Bitter Pill?, Dinesh Shah

Student Scholarship

Global mindset and openness to change by upper echelon healthcare executives are positioned in this research proposal as prerequisites for competitive responses to a paradigmatic shift in the provision of healthcare worldwide. The proposal addresses a gap in the health care management literature evidenced by a deficit of empirical research pertaining to the relationships among global trade, health and health services and responds to a call for more, and more specific, cross-cultural studies that provide practical implications for international management. Motivated by prior research indicating the pivotal role of top manager's world views and attitudes on institutional responses to globalization, …


A Complexity Science Perspective On High Performance M&A Management Teams, Byron C. Clayton Jun 2007

A Complexity Science Perspective On High Performance M&A Management Teams, Byron C. Clayton

Student Scholarship

It has been well documented that over 50% of all mergers and acquisitions (M and A) fail. Despite a multitude of studies by M and A researchers, failure rates have not significantly changed for several decades. As such, the complex behavior of mergers, acquisitions, and their failure remains largely unexplained. Some researchers believe that the emerging field of complexity science may be the key to unlocking the secrets of M and A success. Complexity science, as applied to organizations, asserts that the simple interactions between managers can result in the complex behavior of the management team, specifically in its ability …


Exploring The Factors That Promote Individual Team Member Knowledge Sharing In Information Technology Related Projects Using An Appreciative Inquiry Versus Problem Deficit Inquiry Analysis, Frank C. Braun May 2007

Exploring The Factors That Promote Individual Team Member Knowledge Sharing In Information Technology Related Projects Using An Appreciative Inquiry Versus Problem Deficit Inquiry Analysis, Frank C. Braun

Student Scholarship

The management of organizational knowlegde has become an increasingly important discipline. Knowledge management can be defined as doing what is needed to get the most out of knowledge resources. The origin of a firm's capabilities is enabled through the knowledge in the minds of its employees and integrated business partners. Today organizations rely on key managers and decision makers who individually or collectively possess a profound understanding of specific domains that influence the decision-making process and activities of the organization. This knowledge along with contextual experience allows them to act more quickly, accurately and decisively enabling them to achieve objectives …


Strategic Thinking For R&D Amidst Global Economic Change: Retain And Invest, Outsource....Or Reinvent?, Beth Fitz Gibbon May 2007

Strategic Thinking For R&D Amidst Global Economic Change: Retain And Invest, Outsource....Or Reinvent?, Beth Fitz Gibbon

Student Scholarship

This paper explores issues about firm sustainability in a time of rapid global change. As a strategist and product development practitioner, I need a better understanding of how those aspects of business intersect today. They are not frequently used in the same sentence; but I believe they come together in a firm’s research & development (R&D) process. Discovery reflects Peter Ducker’s, “what a company gets paid for” (1994: 96). That translates to the products and brand value bought by a firm’s customers. As an international practitioner, I also need to know more about the effects globalization has on how managers …


Key Considerations For Developing Electronic Medical Records Systems: Quantitative Research Study, Edward W. Wright May 2007

Key Considerations For Developing Electronic Medical Records Systems: Quantitative Research Study, Edward W. Wright

Student Scholarship

Despite promotion as a national objective, information technology remains relatively underutilized in US healthcare. Building upon an earlier qualitative study investigating the slow adoption of electronic medical records by family practice physicians, I conducted a survey of 368 family practice physician users and found that system ease of use was the only variable that had significant and substantive effects upon medical practice productivity, quality, and satisfaction. We discuss implications for EMR design and a national healthcare record network.


Where Have All The Children Gone?: Young Adult Commitment In Chinese Protestant Churches In United States, Cecilia C. Chan May 2007

Where Have All The Children Gone?: Young Adult Commitment In Chinese Protestant Churches In United States, Cecilia C. Chan

Student Scholarship

Many Chinese Protestant churches in North America (hereafter referred to as Chinese churches) have noted a severe membership reduction due to the exiting of second generation Asian Americans, i.e. American raised Chinese (ARC) and American born Chinese (ABC). Lee coins this phenomenon as “the Silent Exodus” (p. 588). This research proposal investigates why the “Silent Exodus” group of 25-35 year-old young adults return to Chinese churches after a hiatus usually caused by relocation to attend college. The purpose of the study is to examine the young adult group’s motives for re-entering and staying with the church and to examine the …


Women Directors: When Championing The "Tough Issues" At The Board, How And Why Do They Do It And Do They Do It Differently Than Men?, Nancy Mcinerney-Lacombe May 2007

Women Directors: When Championing The "Tough Issues" At The Board, How And Why Do They Do It And Do They Do It Differently Than Men?, Nancy Mcinerney-Lacombe

Student Scholarship

Boards of Directors are often criticized for being compliant or silent on critical issues. In the powerful yet collegial environment of the board, raising "tough issues" as proven to be a challenging task. This lack of action can result in ineffective decision-making and, in some cases like Enron, the demise of the firm (O'Connor, 2003). In view of the fact that management's expertise is valued (Baysinger, Kosnik and Turk, 1991), it takes tenacity to question management's judgments and recommendations (Janis, 1992; Sonnenfeld, 2002; Leblanc & Gillies, 2005). This is especially true if management is long tenured and powerful (Arthur, 2001). …


Distributed Sensemaking In Loosely Coupled Organizations, Sridhar Belavadi Seshadri May 2007

Distributed Sensemaking In Loosely Coupled Organizations, Sridhar Belavadi Seshadri

Student Scholarship

Academic Medical Centers\, despite their research and educational prowess\, are in a financial crisis. Increasing costs\, stiffer competition\, and anticipated tightening of budgets have created new levels of urgency and vibrancy among medical school deans and hospital CEOs about the need to increase the productivity of the clinical enterprise. To date\, most of these efforts have failed- this study attempts to understand why. The conceptual model sets up the relative advantage created by the organizational innovation and resulting organizational performance as the primary independent variable and dependent variables respectively. Organizational sensemaking among the sponsors\, designers\, and implementers of the change …


College And University Endowment Diversification: An Extension Of Institutional Theory, Mary (Mimi) E. Lord May 2007

College And University Endowment Diversification: An Extension Of Institutional Theory, Mary (Mimi) E. Lord

Student Scholarship

Today’s college and university endowments look dramatically different than they did 25 years ago. The quest for greater investment returns has been accompanied by an explosion in the number of asset classes in endowment portfolios\, particularly among large endowments. According to Modern Portfolio Theory\, greater diversification of holdings can help to improve the return/risk profile of a portfolio either by: a) enabling greater returns without adding to risk; or b) lowering risk without lowering returns. Transformation toward greater diversification has resembled to some extent the diffusion process described in institutional theory\, where new practices are initiated by large\, prestigious organizations …


Choice, Gender, And Succession In The Family Business, Kathyann Kessler Overbeke May 2007

Choice, Gender, And Succession In The Family Business, Kathyann Kessler Overbeke

Student Scholarship

This paper proposes a research initiative to investigate the factors that may inhibit women from entering their family’s business in a managerial or decision making capacity. Based on a review of the literature\, very few women become successors in family firms. In 1994 only 2% of CEO’s in family businesses were female. Yet\, despite the abundance of literature on succession in family businesses\, few studies have examined the experience of daughters of family business owners. Some literature investigates the experience of daughters who have entered their family’s business\, but research on daughters who have not entered their family’s business is …


Distributed Sensemaking In Loosely Coupled Organizations, Sridhar Belavadi Seshadar May 2007

Distributed Sensemaking In Loosely Coupled Organizations, Sridhar Belavadi Seshadar

Student Scholarship

Academic Medical Centers, despite their research and educational prowess, are in a financial crisis. Increasing costs, stiffer competition, and anticipated tightening of budgets have created new levels of urgency and vibrancy among medical school deans and hospital CEOs about the need to increase the productivity of the clinical enterprise. To date, most of these efforts have failed- this study attempts to understand why. The conceptual model sets up the relative advantage created by the organizational innovation and resulting organizational performance as the primary independent variable and dependent variables respectively. Organizational sensemaking among the sponsors, designers, and implementers of the change …


Enhanced Business Reporting: A Reemergence Of 19th Century Gaap Policies, Chester H. Brearey May 2007

Enhanced Business Reporting: A Reemergence Of 19th Century Gaap Policies, Chester H. Brearey

Student Scholarship

Existing literature on financial reporting practices within the first wave of regulation- the Interstate Commerce Commission may have its historical roots in the work of Charles Francis Adams Jr., and his fellow Commissioners contained within the financial reporting requirements established through state regulation in the Annual Reports of the Board of Railroad Commissioners in The Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1870 - 1913. In addition, the regulatory environment and the scope of railway activities found within the afore-mentioned reports may throw light on the question of what forces converted the simply recording technology of the Italian merchants of the fourteenth and fifteenth …


Exploring Constructive Career Transition: The Roles Of Dispositional Optimism, Cognitive Behavioral Hope, Emotion Regulation And Social Resources, Kathryn V. Kaminsky May 2007

Exploring Constructive Career Transition: The Roles Of Dispositional Optimism, Cognitive Behavioral Hope, Emotion Regulation And Social Resources, Kathryn V. Kaminsky

Student Scholarship

This quantitative study explores constructive career transition among mid-career individuals. The study's primary focus is the exploration of the intrinsic individual attributes of dispositional optimism, cognitive behavioral hope, the cognitive reappraisal dimension of emotion regulation and their predictive relationships to career satisfaction as an outcome variable. Secondarily, the study posits a mediation effect of the more contextual variable of social resources utilized for instrumental reasons in the achievement of career satisfaction. Primary findings of this research include support for the predictive relationships of dispositional optimism and cognitive behavioral hope to achieving career satisfaction in the career transition respondents sampled. The …


In Search Of Bold And Wise Decision Making In Associations, Mark Engle May 2007

In Search Of Bold And Wise Decision Making In Associations, Mark Engle

Student Scholarship

What if we could encourage association leaders to make bold and wise decision? Board members of nonprofit societies have limited time to devote to strategic issues confronting their associations. It is essential that they use their limited time productively and remain focused on strategic decision making. Therefore, this study addresses how association leadership--both boards and CEOs--consider significant issues and make decisions. The purpose is to determine how boards and staff of professional societies (associations comprised of individual memberships whose primary purpose is to provide learning and knowledge for members of the profession they represent) navigate the decision-making process and make …


Measuring Human Capital In High-Tech Defense Companies, Alexander Eksir May 2007

Measuring Human Capital In High-Tech Defense Companies, Alexander Eksir

Student Scholarship

Within the hightech defense industry, product reliability results are delivered through the integration of technology solutions and process innovation. This is entirely a result of the ways that people in defense corporations and government agencies develop and use their talent. However, due to the increased average age of defense industry employees and the bimodal distribution characteristics of most technical companies, sustainability of performance is currently at risk. A robust and meaningful way to measure human capital and its contribution to the corporation's net worth is essential to enabling analysis, discussion and appropriate investment. Unfortunately, literature dedicated to human resource accounting …


Peer Influence On Moral Choice Among College Student Athletes, Mary-Beth A. Cooper May 2007

Peer Influence On Moral Choice Among College Student Athletes, Mary-Beth A. Cooper

Student Scholarship

Since the inception of sport, much has been written about the behavior of athletes on and off the field of play. Some suggest that the culture of athletics and the very nature of competition promote aggressiveness, performance-related stress, and increased social pressure on student athletes. It is the intent of this research to explore what influences college athlete behavior. Specifically this researcher will focus on peer influence as a factor in impacting athletes' decisions regarding moral choice. Parson's conceptualization of influence introduces the idea of vulnerability to influence. Suggesting that influence varies by the perceived trustworthiness of the source of …


Sales Sense: Improving Communication Through A Network Of Frames, Stuart R. Strolin May 2007

Sales Sense: Improving Communication Through A Network Of Frames, Stuart R. Strolin

Student Scholarship

Why, when one business unit is successfully using an IT product, will another business unit reject or block its deployment when they have the same or similar business needs? Sales practitioners involved in making sense of these situations, centered on the assimilation of complex software innovations, lack the descriptive tools and language for methodically formulating approaches to overcome such obstacles. Insights have been offered by theories such as Diffusion of Innovation (Rogers, 1995), Technological Frames (Orlikowski & Gash, 1994), and Actor-Network Theory (Callon & Latour, 1981; Law, 1987). Various authors (Fichman, 1992; Lamb, 2003; Letch & Perth, 2001; Silver, Markus, …


Association In Associations: Network Dynamics In Dermatology Research, Rebecca M. Minnillo May 2007

Association In Associations: Network Dynamics In Dermatology Research, Rebecca M. Minnillo

Student Scholarship

The work of scientists is heterogeneous-a series of interactions within networks composed of individuals from diverse fields and disciplines (Star & Griesemer, 1989). Generation of new knowledge is essential in the organizations in which these individuals associate; the bridge that holds them together. Knowledge generation takes place at both the individual and collective levels (Brown and Duguid, 1998). Professional organizations attract individuals because they provide a unique forum, a space in which they converge to pursue common goals. Actor-network Theory (ANT) is concerned with how heterogeneous networks and the associations that comprise them come into existence and operate to construct …