Business Commons^™

An Application Of Lewin In A Trans-Pandemic World: A Narrative Inquiry In A Case Study With A Suggested Model For The Future, Chandler Barksdale Ewell Caldwell

Theses and Dissertations

Change is constant in today’s post-pandemic world. This is truly evident in online business success with entrepreneurs that defy past limitations and rely on future vision. This study purposely attempts to identify and qualify the impact of stylized change focused leadership in response to workplace changes during the variant challenges of the corona virus pandemic. The relevancy of Lewin’s organizational change model in today’s new normal provides the foundation for this research. Data were gathered through interview with a purposive sample of 12 managers executives and team members from a public sector organization. Evolving through an iterative process of evaluation …

Explore The Best Organizational Change Model For Chinese State-Owned Enterprises In The Financial Service Industry To Address Global Challenges, Chenyang Feng

Theses and Dissertations

Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) in the financial service industry has reached a tipping point of making changes to address incoming global competition. The unprecedented wave of policy shifts in the market will uncage powerful rivals worldwide and demand the SOEs to change. This study reviewed the best practices and unique challenges to the SOEs in the context of organizational change and strove to explore the best organizational change model for Chinese SOEs in addressing global challenges. This study began by reviewing the background and literature about Chinese SOE development and organizational change, then developed an instrument consisting of critical items …

An Examination Of Leading Through Change Using Snyder’S Hope Theory And Lewin’S 3-Step Model, Scott E. Sorensen

Theses and Dissertations

Never has the world experienced such rapid change, and the environment in which organizations operate necessitates increased change capability and organizational agility (Argyris, 1991). Strebel (1996) found success rates for change initiatives in Fortune 1000 companies ranged from a low of 20% to a high of 50%. Later studies would substantiate Strebel’s (1996) findings, claiming that, on average, failure rates of transformational change initiatives approach 70% (Beer & Nohria, 2000; Sirkin et al., 2005). Suppose this is so, and companies wish to thrive in such a dynamic environment. A fundamental understanding of why change efforts fail and how to drive …

Family Of Origin Influence On Workplace Dynamics: A Qualitative Study, Megan E. Malave

Theses and Dissertations

This study delves into the intricate interplay between Family of Origin influences and the professional practice of Organizational Development (OD) practitioners. Rooted in the recognition that Family of Origin experiences significantly shape individual perspectives and behaviors, this research investigates how OD practitioners leverage this understanding to navigate complex workplace dynamics. Grounded in the Use of Self framework, which emphasizes intentional utilization of one's complete being for enhanced effectiveness, this study explores the multifaceted connections between Family of Origin dynamics and common relational aspects such as leadership, influence, power, conflict, and belonging. Through qualitative analysis of OD practitioners' perspectives, the study …

Participant Reactions To A Leadership Development Program In A High Growth Firm: A Preliminary Study, Malika Begin

Theses and Dissertations

High growth firms (HGF), which report more than 20% annual growth for at least 3 consecutive years, have limited time and resources to support their success. Transformative leadership development interventions, which strive to create marked changes through shifting leaders’ ways of perceiving and operating, may be highly effective for rapidly expanding the firms’ leadership capacities. This study examined the perceived nature and impacts of a leadership development program that was intended to be transformative in one HGF.

All 10 leadership development trainees were interviewed about the effects of the program and the program features that contributed to those effects. Participants …

High Potential Programs In Professional Service Firms, Charlene Robison

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined whether a mixed-cohort of billable and non-billable (e.g., marketing, human resources, accounting, technology) participants in a high-potential development program is beneficial to the organizations that utilize this development approach and to the participants in such programs. This research focused on professional service firms with time-defined and structured high-potential programs. This study utilized a mixed-method design and gathered data in two phases: a survey and a focus group. These methods were used to obtain participant sentiments of participating in their respective high-potential programs. Twenty-five high-potential professionals completed the survey and six participated in the focus group. The study …

Change Readiness And The Mediating Role Of General-Dispositional Internal Structures, Genevieve Joy Clark

Theses and Dissertations

This case study offers insight toward the impact of the general-dispositional, internal structures on a planned organizational change in the field of education. The process used and the findings of this may be applicable to a variety of fields. Stones’ strong structuration (2005) served as the theoretical framework guiding this study, though Chater and Loewenstein’s (2016) model of sensemaking offers supplementary consideration.

The context for study was the shift to virtual learning because of the COVID-19 global pandemic and subsequent closure of schools beginning in March 2020. This empirical study examined agents-in-situ’s response to the change, including the structuring interactions …

Employee Perceptions Related To Specific Work Processes Within The Crime Control Model Known As The Stratified Model, Robert William Steinkraus

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to measure employee perceptions of satisfaction as they relate to specific work processes and products within the Stratified Model. The Stratified Model is a crime-reduction model that was developed and gradually implemented first within the Port St. Lucie Police Department between 2004-2011. The full implementation of this crime-reduction model occurred in 2012. The Port St. Lucie Police department has since achieved greater reductions of the overall crime rate than other cities in Florida consisting of similar populations. In 2019, Port St. Lucie had the 7th largest population in Florida.

Currently, it is unknown how …

Assessing The Impacts Of Work-Related Applications Of Improvisation Training On Psychological Safety In Teams, Marne Maykowskyj Nordean

Theses and Dissertations

This paper discusses improvisational training (IMPT) and psychological safety and seeks to find if the former impacts the latter. For this study, improvisation has four main tenets: ensemble / co-creating, 'yes, and' / accept and heighten, authenticity / celebrating failure, and listening and communication skills. Psychological safety is defined as the shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking and a sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject or punish someone for speaking up. This confidence stems from mutual respect and trust among team members. It is described as …

Building Change Agility Within Teams, Tiffany N. Bersos

Theses and Dissertations

Change is necessary for an organization to be successful. However, poorly executed change, with ill-equipped leaders and unprepared teams, often result in failed efforts. Leaders can have a direct impact on their team's change agility and successful change initiatives. This study looked at team leaders and individual contributors across a variety of industries and explored ways that team leaders can build change agility. This study addressed three research questions: how participants defined the role of a leader, what individuals observed about themselves when at their best during a change, and what practices they believed would aid in building change agility …

Advancing Leadership Consciousness: Integrity From The Inside Out, Jessica Plancich Shinners

Theses and Dissertations

A poll conducted by the World Economic Forum (2015) found that 86% of respondents perceive that we are facing a global leadership crisis. At the time of this study, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the global ecology in dramatic and widespread ways. In light of this uncertain political, economic, sociological, and ecological climate, humanity is in need of consistent and reliable ways of developing exemplary leaders. As society enters into massive technological advancement, leaders and collaborators are at risk of obsolescence if we do not find innovative ways to harness innate human capacities to advance consciousness and co-evolve with technology. …

Love As An Organizational Norm: An Exploration At A Values-Centered Organization, Vangie Marie Bogaty-Rodríguez

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated to what extent, if any, developing a norm of love might be accepted, incorporated, sustained, and beneficial to an organization. Participants included 18 directors, manager, and supervisors of a 24-year-old telecommunications company located in Puerto Rico. Data were collected through individual interviews where interviewees shared their perspectives on the possibility of adopting the norm of love, their acceptance of it, and how they would implement it. Findings indicated that a majority (83.33%) of the participants acknowledged that love is part of the human essence and whole selves, and that such a norm would be beneficial to employees …

Individual Resistance To Change, Jeffrey C. Sandusky

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines individual resistance to change and concludes that it is a constantly evolving process with many contributing factors. Defining resistance to change is a challenge within its own right. To account for the actions involved in change resistance is an even more complex undertaking. In this research, resistance to change is examined and explained using the influences of goals, participation, leadership effectiveness, and communication. These factors are expressed as the composition of what makes an individual resist or accept a change. Each of the four elements of resistance to change are examined independently and then synthesized into a …

The Effects Of Opinion Leaders And Change Messages On Organization Member Change Attitudes: A Field Experiment, Ryan L. Leblanc

Theses and Dissertations

The extent to which three change introduction strategies (i.e., opinion leadership, edict, and change message) influenced readiness for change were tested at four locations as part of a quasi-field experiment with three groups receiving an enriched change message and one control group. Readiness was measured before and after change implementation where it was hypothesized that change readiness would be most improved within the groups that heard the most persuasive and rich change messages. These hypotheses were not supported and data indicated that the differing treatments were never received by the majority of the change recipients, rendering the results of the …

Perceived Need For Change: A Test Of Individual Emotion And Contextual Influences, Gregory D. Hammond

Theses and Dissertations

By investigating organizational change as a change to the status quo as opposed to an explicit change program, this study explored antecedents of a perceived need for change, defined as an individual attitude to actively support a general change to the status quo within the context of a specific process. This cross-sectional study investigated the individual attitudes of construction service providers (n = 193) as their headquarters announced that a change to an existing process would soon be developed. Utilizing hierarchical regression, employees were found to recognize a perceived need for change when they experienced low levels of perceived organizational …

Refinement Of An Instrument To Assess Readiness For Knowledge Management, Landon C. Bailey

Theses and Dissertations

Academics and practitioners have described knowledge as a primary source for competitive advantage for organizations; however, many attempts at instituting knowledge management programs to increase organizational competitiveness do not succeed. Instituting knowledge management programs generally requires organizations to make significant changes and the concept of readiness has long been believed to be an important precondition for successful organizational change. By linking previous research in enablers for knowledge management and organizational change, it is possible to adapt an established organizational change readiness instrument to measure readiness for knowledge management. This study culminates in the development and field-testing of the resultant knowledge …

Mapping Change Management: A Co-Citation Analysis, Brian R. Low

Theses and Dissertations

Today's organizations are continually undergoing changes to make improvements in their efficiency and effectiveness. The ability of organizations to effectively implement and sustain successful change, however, has been limited, with most change initiatives failing to attain the desired success. To counter this trend, researchers across several disciplines have worked to provide practitioners better insight into how to facilitate change within their organizations. This research has resulted in many theories as to what constitutes change and how best to implement it, but it lacks a unifying theory that encompasses all aspects of change research. This effort takes a step toward a …

Understanding Innovation Adoption In The Air Force, Morgan J. Evans

Theses and Dissertations

Innovation adoption has become a critical issue for organizations in both the public and private sectors. The search for competitive advantage has led to the recognition that innovation is a vital ingredient for an organization's survival and profitability in this information age. The United States Air Force is seeking to adapt to this new information age by transforming its business processes in order to sustain its competitive advantage as the world's most respected air force. Adopting innovations and integrating new or improved technologies, capabilities, concepts, and processes into Air Force planning and acquisition activities, organizations, and operations are goals of …

Interaction Between The Process Used To Introduce Change And The Personality Of Organizational Members: An International Test, Terry W. Riddle Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Organizations introduce change to strengthen organizational performance and improve effectiveness. Drawing from literature in the areas of organizational change and personality characteristics, this study seeks to uncover the influence personality has on an individual's readiness for change. Data were utilized from two previous studies that sampled both an American organization and a Korean organization. The administered questionnaires captured data pertaining to the individuals' perceptions of the change process, their personality attributes, and their readiness for change. Using a statistical method known as moderated multiple regression, the study examined whether personality moderates the impact the change process has on an individual's …

Entrepreneurial Mindset In Department Of Defense (Dod) Organizations: Antecedents And Outcomes, Christopher C. Wood

Theses and Dissertations

Department of Defense (DoD) and Air Force senior leaders have called for transforming the way the military conducts business. One way to achieve this transformation is by promoting a more entrepreneurial approach. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent an entrepreneurial mindset exists in DoD organizations and to identify key antecedents and outcomes associated with this mindset. The study participants were seven Air Force organizations, most of which were located on Air Force Bases in the United States. An electronic survey was used to gather data from members of these innovative DoD organizations. Descriptive statistics and …

An International Study Of Organizational Change: A Simultaneous Analysis Of Process, Context, And Individual Attributes, Hee-Hyung Jung

Theses and Dissertations

Few studies in the organizational change literature have examined differences in the change process in different cultures. This cross-cultural study is designed to take a comprehensive view of change using a dynamic model that integrates content, process, context, and individual attribute factors simultaneously. The model is used to compare perceptions of organizational change held by members of military organizations in the United States and in Korea. The U.S. sample consisted of 264 employees who were members of Department of Defense organizations. There were two Korean samples: 280 employees of the Women's Military School and members of the Women's Battalion, and …

Participation's Effect On Organizational Readiness For Change: An Empirical Study, Jonathon F. Flanders

Theses and Dissertations

Organizational change management is a principal issue in virtually every organization. This cross sectional correlation study examined an array of variables (i.e., process, personality, and context -specific) that influence organizational readiness for change. Participation (process variable) was related to higher mean scores in each of the four distinct readiness for change scales and explained a significant amount of incremental variance in appropriateness, valence, and efficacy.

The Development Of An Integrated Measure Of Readiness For Change Instrument And Its Application On Asc/Pk, Steven W. Clark

Theses and Dissertations

Organizations are continually forced to implement changes due to a myriad of external and internal influences, Despite the fact that organizations are predominantly in a perpetual state of change, recent research has shown that nearly 75% that have initiated large-scale change efforts have not realized the significant organizational improvements that were intended, As a preemptive measure, organizational managers are being encouraged to gauge their organization's readiness prior to implementing change initiatives, Unfortunately, over 40 unique instruments currently exist that purport to measure some aspect of readiness, Because of limited perspective, no one instrument has emerged as the standard and they …

Strategies Leaders Should Use To Respond To Hostile Questions Regarding Organizational Changes: An Empirical Investigation, Michael S. Gore

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to develop a tool, using Speech Act Theory, which will help leaders better handle hostile questions they face during organizational change. Specifically, speech act theory, which outlines five question-response strategies, was used to test the effectiveness of question responses to hostile questions encountered during organizational change.

Analysis And Evaluation Of The Macroscopic Organizational Structure Of Red Horse, Lance D. Clark

Theses and Dissertations

The primary contingency engineering capability within the United States Air Force is provided by Rapid Engineer Deployable, Heavy Operations Readiness Squadron, Engineer (RED HORSE). This thesis examines the macroscopic organizational structure of RED HORSE; that is, the manner in which RED HORSE resources (personnel and equipment) are organized collectively, above the unit (squadron or flight) level. It builds on the findings of the Air Combat Command - sponsored RED HORSE 2010 Strategic Study, and focuses on issues of geographic location and chain of command above the unit level, as the study found these two topics were found to be vital …

Changing Organizations: A Meta-Analysis Of Change Implementation Strategies' Effects On Organizational Outcomes, Jay A. Welborn

Theses and Dissertations

This research represents a meta-analysis of 24 empirical studies that explored and identified which organizational factors moderated the relationships between facilitation strategies and change adoption The results indicate two key facilitation strategies, participation and communication that produced significant results. Participation resulted in a positive impact on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, performance, and turnover rates, while communication resulted in a positive impact on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, change adoption, and intent to remain. Contrary to many research studies, participation strategy was a non-significant moderator for change adoption. The identified strategies and outcomes were then analyzed for potential moderators. Due to the …