Business Commons^™

Strategic Planning For Downsizing And The Human Resource Factor, Kathleen M. Kaiser

Theses

This thesis will focus on the study of downsizing , the importance of a strategic plan for downsizing and the effect the on human resource factor .

Businesses experienced unprecedented growth throughout the 1960 1 s and early 1970 ' s ; in the 1980 1 s the recession slowed this growth and downsizing became a necessary economic device for businesses to remain competitive . Some of the reasons stated for downsizing are : to safeguard profit mar gins , stagnant growth , poor earnings , market driven cuts , foreign competition , advancing technology , and a last ditch …

Correlations Of Income Level And Employee Tradeoff Preference Between Wages And Fringe Benefits, Perry G. Hirtz

Theses

This thesis seeks to determine if a relationship exits between income level and employee preferences for various benefits as measured against a form of wage trade- off value utilizing Maslow's theory of hierarchy of needs as a basis.

The ever increasing cost of providing benefits makes it important for organizations to formulate benefit packages that maximize their value to employees as part of the overall compensation package . Research which adds to the understanding of how benefits are valued by employees can aid in the formulation of successful and efficient compensation structures.

A limited amount of research has been conducted …

Telecomuting, Donna Marie Cunningham Baringer

Theses

Telecommuting is a form of working from a remote location that relies on telecommunications. Technological progress has resulted in an increasing number of personnel who are now able to telecommute from home. The rising numbers of telecommuters has resulted in an increase of published studies on this topic. This project relies on these and on interviews with several people actively involved in the field.

A telecenter is a type of telecommuting which offers companies the opportunity to lease workspace for their employees. The Midwest region is not familiar with telecenters which are more prominent in the state of California. The …

A Human Resource Manual For Registered Nurse Managers Working In Non-Hospital Settings, Jane Elizabeth Gausch

Theses

"Becoming a successful manager in a health care agency is, for most new managers, an awesome and extremely challenging goal. Most new managers have little idea of the complexities of a management position and of the difficulties they will encounter" (Dajvidhaizar 65). Ever more, nurses are finding employment opportunities in small business environments and without the services of the human resource management department that is available to their counterparts in traditional hospital settings. Due to changes in the way health-care is being delivered, there is a pressing need for today's nurse manager to be better prepared than in the past. …

Court Decisions Defining The Americans With Disabilities Act For Businesses, Peggy R. Shaw

Theses

This thesis documents how the impact of court decisions will define the terms of The Americans With Disabilities Act.

Research on The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) shows the lack of clearly defined terms in the regulations. Terms like essential functions, reasonable accommodation, and undue hardship may have different meanings for each individual business.

The Americans With Disabilities Act is not a group rights piece of legislation. Individuals having a like disability may have dissimilar needs of accommodation. All muscular dystrophy patients, for example, do not have like symptoms or progression of the disease. At different stages each individual will …

Electronic Commerce And The Communication Of Information, Donna Carroll Bigelow

Theses

Electronic Commerce is a relatively new phenomenon in today's market place. Commerce or the buying and selling of goods and services can take many forms. In the early years of computerization. commercial activities revolved around the exchange of financial data between businesses and banks (Electronic Funds Transfer). Then businesses began exploring the transfer of data in an electronic format between individual businesses in the form of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Over time much broader types of business transactions began occurring. Data exchange included inventory items, marketing. sales materials, product design. Items which were sent via mail took on an electronic …

Characteristics And Criteria Of Effective Training, Michelle D. Yepsen

Theses

This thesis was written to center on the difficulties faced when delivering quality training to today's businesses.

Approaches to training change every year with the additions to technology, but some aspects of the field will remain the same. No matter what type of program is being designed, instructors must assess their students beforehand to ensure that training will provide what is needed.

So often, off-the-shelf training is used without consideration to the audience. The literature reviewed suggested that trainers need to tune into their subjects and work on their communication skills. Also, corporations have objectives that they expect to be …

Business And Education: A Partnership Worth Investment, Keith W. Harkins

Theses

This thesis will focus on the potential benefits of a collaboration between business and education in an effort to prepare today's youth for entry into the workforce.

The number of large companies that are becoming involved with education is steadily increasing. Many business leaders have come to realize that business has the ability to provide human and material resources that would enable schools to significantly improve the education students receive.

Student internships may provide a method for both business and education to benefit from such partnerships.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate research regarding partnerships between business …

A General Reference Guide For Sales Managers In The Printing Industry To Aid In The Training And Development Of New And Current Sales Personnel, David E. Adam

Theses

This thesis will focus on the study of general management in the printing industry and the need f or a sales management level training program.

A reference manual was developed to help management understand the skills needed to be effective in today's highly competitive printing market/industry. This manual is also a reference to assist management in evaluating their skills, the skills of those they manage, and give them needed information to increase and develop these skills.

Many mid-size printing companies don't have rigid training programs for the white collar side of their business. Many times new hires are hired based …

An Analysis Of Organizational Concepts And Trends As Related To Team And Matrix Structures, Victor A. Finazzo

Theses

This thesis will focus on an analysis of organizational trends in the United States, and the move away from functionally based organizational structures toward team structures .

Increased domestic and international economic pressures have forced many U. S. companies to seek out new methods of operation in order to stay competitive and maintain market share . A major emphasis has been placed on organizational streamlining in an effort to become leaner and more productive . Many companies have taken the slow and cautious approach, carefully calculating the impact of organizational change, and others have leaped head first into new and …

The Downsizing Of American Corporations: Have They Gone Too Far?, Patricia A. Sturm

Theses

This thesis will focus on the study of corporate downsizing and its impact on Americans and American businesses. Has it really been the cure-all that most top executives believe it to be, or is it simply a temporary fix that creates additional problems? Whatever the answer, this phenomenon, which began in the early eighties and still exists today, has changed the way corporations do business and the way Americans feel about their jobs.

Over the years executives have made many mistakes as they took a slash and burn type of approach toward eliminating jobs. They found that although this method …

The Use Of The Federal Concept On The Before And After Techniques In Partial Takings For Privatization, James Lamantia

Theses

The concept of valuation is legally supported in the Constitution of the United States. The federal area of Eminent Domain has created a field of use through case law and federal administrative policies and requirements. The federal case law and court decisions have created a whole field of legal terminology. The areas of Eminent Domain and its Just Compensation requirements have developed legally accepted methodology. One of the required methodologies for partial federal takings is the "Before and After" concept. The "Before and After" methodology is used to measure the difference between two sets of valuation facts. This concept when …

Administrative Quality Planning, Carolyn Joan Costello Baker

Theses

The quality movement in American businesses is becoming increasingly popular. American businesses are now competing internationally for market and the Japanese are winning. American businesses have adopted various quality systems to help them become customer driven, assisting in the regaining of lost market share. Some companies have been successful in implementing a quality system, but most have fallen short of achieving the desired a quality operation.

Most of the successful quality programs have come in manufacturing plants, but quality in the support services of the administrative levels have fallen short. Many manufacturing organizations approach quality implementation for the plant and …

The Making Of A New Product Development Process, William Scott Robertson

Theses

The core process that almost all manufacturing organizations are built on is new product development. It is the new product development process that determines how the Technical Operations, i.e., Engineering, Manufacturing, etc., of a particular company will be organized.

In 1993, Michael Hammer and James Champy wrote a revolutionary book entitled 11Reengineering the Corporation." In this book, they tell businesses to forget most of what they know about how business should run -- because it is all wrong.

They say that businesses must learn to reinvent themselves in order to compete in the ever-changing business climate of the 1990s and …

Corporate Image: The Role Of Communications In Development And Maintenance, Michelle L. Warner

Theses

This thesis will focus on corporate image - what it is, what it does, why it is necessary and how to develop and maintain it.

The term "corporate identity'' was first coined in the 1960's by Walter Margulies. Corporate identity is the term most commonly used to define a corporation's "sense of self." Corporate image is a direct offshoot of identity. Corporate image is the picture that an audience has of an organization through the accumulation of all received messages.

The bridge between corporate identity and corporate image is corporate communications. The most effective way to manage corporate image is …

The Implementation Of Cellular Manufacturing On To A Functional Factory Floor, Todd E. Richter

Theses

This thesis will focus on the implementation of cellular manufacturing and the issues that must be addressed for the successful transformation from a traditional functionally partitioned manufacturing environment .

A large percentage of companies who attempt to transform a functionally partitioned factory into a cellular layout fail to obtain the benefits that it can bring. Research has attributed this to the lack of planning for all the issues involved in cellular manufacturing . It is necessary to address all the issues, not just one or two, or the negative effects of partitioning a factory floor (the loss of pooling synergy) …

The Investigation Of The Needs Of Contemporary Woman And Development Of The Business Plan For Time For You, Ltd., Paula P. Macmann

Theses

This project focuses on the changing roles - and subsequent needs - of today's women.

Society slowly adapts to change; consequently, the responses to women's needs result in some being met, some only being addressed while others are completely ignored.

Still. changes in society have afforded unique opportunities for today's woman. Associated with these opportunities comes challenges. Segments of society continue to hold gender based stereotypical beliefs limiting women to traditional roles. But a new version of women's potential has emerged in the last quarter century. These new attitudes open up a more expanded scope of roles. They also result …

An Investigation Into The Development, Design, And Feasibility Of A Comprehensive Breast Diagnostic Center, Kelly W. Emrick

Theses

This thesis will focus on the feasibility of implementing, operating, and managing a free standing comprehensive breast diagnostic center for the detection of breast disease.

The important concern for diagnosis, treatment, and management of breast cancer in women is no new theory to the health care industry. Current public awareness of breast cancer is at an all time high. Every day the American public hears some aspect on the subject, whether it is on the evening news, TIME magazine, or just by word of mouth at the office.

This business plan will provide an all encompassing prospectus for potential investors …

Empowering The Survivors Of Downsizing, Marian W. Guidry

Theses

Downsizing, a term relatively new to the business world just a few years ago, has now become a house-hold name. In an effort to trim the budget, companies are reducing their personnel at an alarming rate.

The recent downsizing is having a devastating effect on employee morale. Downsizing threatens the security and self-esteem of survivors and victims. It causes turmoil and shatters the morale inside of organizations.

Survivors of downsizing are faced with the challenge of remaining loyal to the organization, even when feelings of insecurity and cynicism are dominating. Fear is permeating the workplace. Lack of mobility and advancement …

Empirical Research Study Of Rates Of Return On Earnings And Cash Flow, Joseph A. Agiato

Theses

Business valuation texts and reference sources all seem to indicate that the rate of return on cash flow should be between 300 and 600 basis points lower than the rate of return for earnings. Thus, when using a build-up approach to determine the rate of return on cash flow, an addition of between 3 percent and 6 percent is necessary to arrive at a rate of return on earnings. This thesis analyzes the relationship between earnings and cash flow (as dividends) over a two year period from 1993 to 1994.

The purpose of this study was to study the relationship …

The Importance Of Utilizing Older Workers As They Become A More Significant Factor In America's Work Force, Marilyn K. Brown

Theses

This thesis will focus on the study of how America's companies are beginning to realize what a valuable asset their older employees have become. These people bring years of experience, knowledge , skill and loyalty to the work place. Contrary to stereotypes of older workers being slow, inflexible, unproductive, costly, uncreative and not adaptable , organizations are discovering that these people in general do not fit this "mold."

Throughout history there has been a change in attitudes toward older individuals. During colonial America, age represented authority, power , arrogance and greed. Around the time of the American Revolution, equality among …

Evolution Of The Workplace: Where Do We Go From Here?, Patricia L. Brockmeyer

Theses

This paper will take the reader on a fascinating journey through the workplace from colonial times to the decade of 2000+. It will be a tumultuous roller coaster ride with victories and sacrifices for both employees and employers. It will begin with the birth of our country when labor was largely concentrated either in agriculture, or people were self employed in retail, or skilled trades. It will identify the somewhat nefarious methods for obtaining servants, from Europe and Africa when indentured servants and slaves provided cheap labor.

Soon the industrial revolution invaded the shores of the new nation and workers …

The Impact Of Corporate Training Programs And Business/Education Partnerships On The Skills Gap Of The American Workforce, Clare G. Romeo

Theses

This thesis will focus on the study of the impact of corporate training programs and business education partnerships on the skills gap of the American workforce.

Research indicates that there is an emerging crisis in the American workplace. Increased demand for highly skilled workers, combined with an aging workforce, has created shortages of skilled workers, shortages that are predicted to grow for many years to come. This shortage of skilled workers required by employers is defined as the skills gap.

Some of the causes of the skills gap are demographic trends, technological change and increased international competition. One major factor …

Marketing Student-Athletes, Susan Emilie Sagara

Theses

This thesis explores the increasingly strategic role of parents and student-athletes in marketing themselves for collegiate athletic scholarships. Focusing primarily on high school athletes aiming to secure positions in college athletic programs, Sagarra argues that recruiting is not just the domain of coaches and scouts—it is a business-like endeavor that requires active family involvement. The project examines how athletes and their families can take initiative to promote both academic and athletic qualities, navigate NCAA and NAIA recruiting rules, and leverage external resources such as coaches, scouting services, and media. It discusses the pressures athletes face—emotionally, academically, and socially—and how informed …

The Impact Of Self Directed Work Teams On Organizational Performance, Wanda M. Roane

Theses

This is an expository study that will examine organizational problems that have contributed to the declining health of north American businesses. It will further identify a treatment approach, that when strategically applied can improve a business' performance and ultimately its ability to compete in global markets.

For many years North American Business have operated under a paradigm that embraced the belief that bureaucracy was the best organizational form to achieve business success. Research indicates that bureaucracy, and its failure to focus on people and the role that they play has been a leading cause to the decline in business. Many …

Achieving Complete Customer Satisfaction, Marilyn K. Haag

Theses

The term customer service has changed in meaning over the years. There was a time when it suggested an unpleasant experience for both the customer and the business. Employees tried to avoid complaints because they weren't educated in how to handle them. Over time, customer service evolved into a much broader meaning as companies noticed that the leaders in their industry provided service as part of the sale. When companies began to change their own way of doing business, they began to see profits associated with offering service with the sale, and they found that it can be the "secret …

Self-Directed Work Teams: The New Wave For American Corporations, Janetta K, Cole

Theses

This thesis will focus on the study of self-directed or empowered work teams and on preparing a plan to implement the empowered work team in the customer Contact Center in Wentzville, Missouri.

Self-directed work teams are a relatively new concept in the workforce and could be the 90s version of the total quality concept. The philosophy is that first line management takes a step backward and the workgroup virtually leads themselves. Employees are empowered to make the decisions and then act on those decisions to produce a better quality product than before. The concept is designed around teamwork both from …

A Study Of The Internal Restructuring Of A Major Organization, Cynthia Diane Birkner

Theses

This project deals with a study of the internal restructuring of a major organization. It looks at customer service as a whole and how it is effected if internal communication is not at its very best.

Chapter one covers the basics of good customer service and establishes that, if done correctly, good customer service positions a company for success. A key point is that good customer service stems from a positive self image within the company, among all segments of the work force; and that this self image depends on good internal communications dynamics.

Chapter two reviews the literature of …

House Bill 564, The School Health Initiative: An Implementation Manual For St. Charles County, Anne F. Zerr

Theses

This thesis project will be an Applied Learning Expository Study, creating an Implementation Manual for the provisions set forth in House Bill 564, the School Health Initiative.

The manual will be specific to St. Charles County. It will take into consideration the needs of the St. Charles community relative to the health of its school children.

Passed by the Missouri legislature and signed into law by Governor Mel Carnahan in the summer of 1994, House Bill 564 aims to improve health care access for Missouri's children by creating an innovative infrastructure for primary care delivery. It is a multi-faceted bill …

Rational Bias And Its Relationship To The Glass Ceiling, Kelly A. Levengood

Theses

This thesis will focus on the affect of rational bias to the "glass ceiling." Research has suggested that a "glass ceiling" exists in corporate America . It attributes the lack of women in middle and upper management to the "glass ceiling."

Some theorists acknowledge that not all women want to be at the top in management due to the "mommy track" or general lack of interest for that position. However, for those women who desire a position in upper management, some theorists believe women are blocked from upper management positions by the "old boys network" . . . the "glass …