Business Commons^™

Leading For Success: Leader-Member Exchange Relationships And Employee Creative Self-Efficacy, Mary Joy Wytsma

University Honors Theses

In today's competitive and ever-evolving business landscape, creativity has become a major focus for managers, leaders, and organizations. However, there are downsides to making creative employees the end-all goal. Instead, managers and leaders should focus on fostering employee creative self-efficacy via high-quality Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) relationships. Within team settings, LMX works in tandem with Team-Member Exchange (TMX), and these relationships allow employees to experience positive physiological state, social persuasion, vicarious experience, and mastery experience, the four drivers of self-efficacy. Employees with high levels of creative self-efficacy experience increased creativity, job satisfaction, and motivation, making them major assets to teams and …

Clarifying And Measuring Inclusive Leadership, Kelly Mason Hamilton

Dissertations and Theses

Many organizations view diversity as a strategic business priority that provides important benefits such as increased creativity and innovation. Research indicates, however, that the potential benefits of diversity cannot be realized without employees feeling a sense of inclusion, which involves feeling like one belongs and can be themselves at work. Although scholars acknowledge the important role managers play in fostering inclusion, there remains limited research on specific behaviors they can enact to foster inclusion perceptions in their work groups. Additionally, there is a lack of agreement in the literature about the scope of "inclusive leadership." Historically, scholars viewed inclusive leadership …

Institutional Theory In Sport: A Scoping Review, Jonathan Robertson, Mathew Dowling, Marvin Washington, Becca Leopkey, Dana Lee Ellis, Lee Smith

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Institutional theory has generated considerable insight into fundamental issues within sport. This study seeks to advance Washington and Patterson’s review by providing an empirical review of institutional theory in sport. We follow Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review protocol to identify 188 sport-related institutional studies between 1979 and 2019. Our review provides evidence regarding the state of institutional scholarship within sport via an analysis of authorship, year, journal, methodology, method, study population, and use of institutional constructs (legitimacy, isomorphism, change, logics, fields, and work). Rather than a hostile takeover or a joint venture proposed in Washington and Patterson’s review, the relationship …

The Longitudinal Effects Of A Family And Sleep Supportive Intervention On Service Member Anger And Resilience, Shalene Joyce Allen

Dissertations and Theses

The vast majority of workplace intervention research on employee anger and resilience primarily focuses on individual-level strategies for mitigating employee anger and resilience outcomes in the workplace, with no studies having examined these outcomes with tangible occupational health interventions utilizing organizational-level techniques. Thus, the current study extends the literature on how to provide improvements in employee anger and resilience using higher system and organizational change mechanisms by providing evidence-based support for the effectiveness of a Total Worker Health® intervention, referred to as the Family and Sleep Supportive Intervention Training (FaSST). This approach employs both health protection and health promotion strategies …

Effective Leadership In Virtual Teams During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Shivani Agarwal, Sara Ferdousi, Mareena John, Alison Nalven, Tyler Stahl

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about an unprecedented economic and social crisis that has affected many businesses. Due to health concerns, many organizations are being managed virtually. This can be challenging, especially for employees and employers that are used to face-to-face interaction and for those who are not tech-savvy. Organizational leaders need to develop strategies and methods to maintain business, as well as maintain the productivity levels of employees. This research paper investigates the most effective ways to lead virtual teams during a pandemic. This is a semi-empirical study based on a short literature review and the survey responses of …

Initial Decision Framework For The Implementation Of Virtual Teams, Duane Murray, Jeffrey Pinkerton, Yaya Sirimongkarakorn, Mohammed Thawab, Mohammed Zaid

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Virtual teams have been used in varying degrees by organizations over the last several decades. The COVID-19 pandemic has required organizations to increase their use of virtual teams for survival. This increase has placed the positive and negative aspects of working within this virtual paradigm into the spotlight, requiring organizational management and employees to adapt abruptly. This has led to individuals adopting sets of technical tools for communicating and working together in a virtual environment. Identifying and examining the critical perspectives and components for virtual team success, this paper seeks to initiate a framework to help an organization decide if …

Exploring The Role Of Transformational Leaders In The Mentorship Of Top-Level Administrators: A Case Study Of The Veterans Health Administration (Vha) Visn Lead Program, Frederick Giovanni White Jr.

Dissertations and Theses

Despite the proliferation of studies focused on transformational leadership, there is a lack of clarity related to how transformational leaders are developed in public organizations and the impact of mentors in this process. This is particularly troubling given a 2017 Bureau of Labor Statistics estimate that over 44% of the current U.S. workforce is 45 years or older.

In public and private settings, organizations are challenged to develop the competencies critical at higher levels of management in their future leaders, specifically advanced human and conceptual skills. These skills are most useful for emerging leaders that will have the responsibilities to …

Understanding The Consequences Of Newcomer Proactive Behaviors: The Moderating Contextual Role Of Servant Leadership, Talya N. Bauer, Serge Perrot, Robert C. Liden, Berrin Erdogan

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Proactive newcomers are more successful in terms of integration and job satisfaction, than newcomers who are less proactive. However, it is unclear whether contextual factors, such as the leadership style experienced by newcomers, matter. To address this gap in the literature, we gathered data at three times from 247 new employees across their first six months after joining a company in France. Given that past research has found that newcomers play an active role in their own adjustment process, in the current study we investigate how newcomer proactive behaviors relate to the key outcomes of job satisfaction, person-job fit, and …

Improving The Candidate Experience: Tips For Developing 'Wise' Organizational Hiring Interventions, Julie M. Mccarthy, Talya N. Bauer, Donald M. Truxillo, Michael C. Campion, Chad H. Van Iddekinge, Michael A. Campion

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Organizations that focus on ensuring a high-quality candidate experience are more likely to attract, engage, and connect with top talent. They are also able to bring more visibility to their brand. This is because when individuals feel connected to an organization, their attitudes and behaviors are more positive. As such, it is critical to ensure that the selection process candidates experience is a positive one. Indeed, a 2017 review of the applicant reactions literature was conducted by McCarthy and colleagues, and findings indicated that when candidates have a negative reaction to the selection process they are likely to report lower …

The Evolving Institutional Work Of The National Collegiate Athletic Association To Maintain Dominance In A Fragmented Field, Nite Calvin, Ige Abiodun, Marvin Washington

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Highlights:

• Sport governance associations remain intact despite predictors of demise.

• NCAA learned to control boundaries, practices, and institutional cognitions.

• Expanding membership boundaries increased institutional dominance.

• Flexible practices allowed for multiple interests to coexist in institution.

• Cognitive understandings are strategically built, adjusted, and defended.

High-profile sport governance associations tend to remain intact despite numerous issues that would predict their demise. As such, these types of associations offer valuable contexts for understanding institutional maintenance work. The authors conducted a historical case study of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the U.S. More than 7000 pages of …

Impact Of Leadership On Team’S Performance, Harshitha Gadirajurrett, Raj Srinivasan, Jake Stevens, Nihal Jeena

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

The concept of leadership is a widely discussed concept, with numerous articles and books being dedicated to the exploration and evaluation of leadership and its impact on team building, team performance and team dynamics. In this paper, we will be looking at the impact of leadership on team performance, and evaluating it through the lens of different leadership styles, focusing on the idea of Transformational Leadership. Through numerous article and journal reviews, we will seek to identify characteristics and strengths of these leadership styles as they pertain to the performance of teams within an organization.

Does Local Religiosity Affect Organizational Risk-Taking? Evidence From The Hedge Fund Industry, Lei Gao, Ying Wang, Jing Zhao

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

We examine the impact of local religious beliefs on organizational risk-taking behaviors using hedge funds as a new and unique setting. We find that local religiosity is significantly negatively related to both total and idiosyncratic volatilities of hedge funds during 1996-2013, even after controlling for endogeneity using managers’ college-location religiosity. Consistent with the local preference channel, the impact of local religiosity on risk-taking is only pronounced among funds for which local managers and investors are more important, namely semi-directional, young, and small funds. Further, hedge funds located in more religious counties tend to hold less risky stocks and diversify their …

Strengths In Action: Implementing A Learning Organization Model In A Human Service Setting, Barbara Ann Whitbeck

Dissertations and Theses

Although learning organization theory evolved in corporate settings, literature suggests that the theory has much to offer human service organizations. This dissertation examines the implementation of a modified learning organization model in three small field offices of a publicly-funded vocational rehabilitation organization in the Pacific Northwest, at a time when the organization was negotiating financial cutbacks and organizational changes. The model - known as Strengths in Action - was based on Senge's five learning organization disciplines, and informed by organizational culture theory. In each participating office, all staff worked together to set a goal, make a plan, and achieve the …

Bumps Along The Long And Winding Road: Factors Related To Truck Driver Turnover And Job-Induced Tension, Layla Rhiannon Mansfield

Dissertations and Theses

Voluntary turnover rates among truckload carriers are extremely high, ranging from 50% to more than 100% annually (Griffin & Kalnbach, 2002), furthermore, long-haul truck drivers operate in a stressor-filled environment, which exerts enormous adverse influence not only their well-being but also on their intent to quit. This study explores the relational aspects of the driver's work environment to highlight how the relationships that a driver has with their organization, supervisor, and dispatcher can explain turnover and job-induced tension. Drawing on Social Exchange Theory, Conservation of Resources Theory, and concepts from Hirschman's (1970) theoretical framework of Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, this …

Gender And The Social Structure Of Collaboration, Kjersten Bunker Whittington

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Previous research demonstrates that individuals’ network positions in their surrounding social structure of relations influence the extent of their output and performance. The unique situation of minority groups complicates the relationship, however, as issues of status, legitimacy, and marginality influence the flow and interpretation of information and resources. While several scholars have addressed differences in male and female networks in the workplace, the association between macro-level work arrangements and the micro-level interaction mechanisms of minority groups is unclear. Greater insight into stratification processes can be gained by studying how organizational forms affect the way men’s and women’s networks are structured …

Systems Integration Analysis And Alternatives Identification For Facilities Planning Branch, Bpa: Task 1: Background Analysis And Data Gathering, Kenneth Dueker, Ric Vrana

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

Portland State University has been engaged by the Facilities Planning Branch, Division of Engineering, Bonneville Power Administration, to collect background information, analyze current activities, and provide recommendations for greater Branch efficiencies, and the most timely service to its customers, based on current and projected resources and financial responsibilities. This information is to extend and compliment the efforts of an in-house systems integration team which initially addressed these issues. This study is intended to assist Branch management in its effort to identify Branch strengths and increase productivity.

The Facilities Planning Branch is one of three Branches in the Division of Facilities …