Business Commons^™

Human-Centered Design For Strategic Organizational Shifts In Complex Times, Kristen Laviano Snow

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Nonprofit organizations are faced with unprecedented challenges as they seek to accomplish their lofty missions in a complex environment, ripe with uncertainty. The global COVID-19 pandemic brought forth new problems for communities and workplaces. As a result, some old ways of working may no longer be useful. To make meaningful progress on their social missions while navigating an unfamiliar post-pandemic context, nonprofits need new tools to help them understand and respond to changing community needs. Evidence has shown design thinking to be an effective approach to developing innovative strategies tailored to real needs, however, it has not been widely practiced …

Student Loan Debt And First-Generation Community College Students, Sandra A. Fuentes

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The rising costs of college attendance and changes in financial aid packages leave students with little option other than to incur a debt of some amount. Unfortunately, colleges often fail to provide adequate financial literacy and student loan information so prospective students planning to attend college can make informed decisions. Student loans may seem attractive in the short term because, unlike other loans, repayment does not begin immediately. However, the accrual of student loan debt leads to long-term financial consequences, including the opportunity to build economic wealth after graduation. Utilizing a basic qualitative research design, I explored first-generation community college …

Social Movement Splintering: An Examination Of Stockton Stands With Minneapolis And News Media Representation, Kevin Ozomaro

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The phenomenon surrounding news media’s power to alter group identity and group cohesion is something that rarely a point of focus in communication studies. In this study I worked with a local social movement group called Stockton Stands with Minneapolis. This group illustrated the importance of maintaining shared values. Utilizing relational Interviewing, SSWM members provided evidence showing the connection between news media and group success. News media has had a role in shaping group members’ understanding of SSWM and activism. SSWM has faced internal conflict as a result of negative news representation. SSWM is a relatively small and young (2 …

Rising Above The Adobe Ceiling: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study Of Mentoring And Social Capital Influences Among California Latina Nonprofit Leaders, Belinda Hernandez

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Empirical research studies that focus on the experiences of Latinas in executive leadership are limited. In its entirety, workforce research has overlooked how social and cultural experiences influence this group’s leadership development. This gap in research has failed to uplift the Latina executive voice and their achievements. Addressing this gap has the potential to influence distinctive workforce practices and future scholarship. Utilizing an asset-based perspective, this study presents counter narratives that intentionally focus on exploring Latina leaders’ voices. The importance of intersectional experience and social identities illustrate non-monolithic, yet aligned, experiences among study participants.

This foundational dissertation explored mentoring phenomena …

Innovation Within Regulations: Gaining Insight On Cultivating Employee-Led Innovation In California Public-Sector Organizations, Rebecca N. Franklin

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The inquiry concerned gaining insights into environmental elements needed within California public-sector organizations to increase employees’ willingness to share innovative ideas. Although research exists regarding the need for service innovation and employees as fruitful sources of innovative ideas, there have been limited studies concerning public-sector organizations and the best method to solicit employee ideas. The data collection for this qualitative research study consisted of a series of interviews with front-line, non-supervisory civil servants. The results provide insights and information on how public-sector organizations may foster a culture that promotes and encourages employee-led innovation. The themes that emerged were (a) transparency …

Dialogue During Team Problem Solving Using Visual Representation Boundary Objects: A Case Study, Julie Marie Webb

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Organizations benefit from the knowledge held by individual members as well as knowledge that is shared among those members. In order for knowledge to co-develop between members, and to spread, organizations must provide opportunities for members to collaborate. Organizational teams sometimes require assistance with interpersonal communication, establishing consensus, and sharing knowledge when collaborating. Group facilitators can offer guidance and intervene when teams need support. In addition, teams can find support through the use of visual representation boundary objects (VRBOs) to build trust, improve communication, increase cooperation, and share ideas. This study explores how knowledge is shared between team members and …

The Impact Of Using Situational Management Communication Styles In Intercollegiate Athletics, Glen A. Sisk

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study examined if supervisors within intercollegiate athletic settings have a higher tendency to use task-oriented management styles than supervisors outside of athletics. The study also assessed if athletic supervisors would have a higher tendency to adapt their leadership style based on situational factors. 214 respondents were asked to complete a five-part survey, comprised of two management communication styles, emotional intelligence, the Leadership Adaptability Style Index, and demographic information. Two additional questions raised in the study posed the same questions in relation to all respondents within athletics and those outside athletics. The results showed no significant differences in management styles …

An Analysis Of Health Related Physical Fitness Measurements And Absenteeism Of Employees Participating In Worksite Wellness Program, Kristen Elizabeth Birtwhistle

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the physical fitness and absenteeism comparisons between exercising and non-exercising employees who participate in worksite wellness program.

The Formulation Of A Design To Evaluate The Effects Of Training On Banks, Alison Pratt

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

A well-run business combines motivated, trained employees with the right work environment to produce the greatest results at the least cost. When the results (from a product or service) do not exceed costs by a sufficient margin, at least one part of the system is not operating efficiently. This problem is caused by a production deficiency, which occurs when actual performance does not match the desired performance (Herem, 1979). In order to determine the root of this problem, two areas must be examined. These areas are (a) the nature of the work environment and its organizational structure, which may prevent …

The Sociological Implications Of Automation For Labor, Floyd Gene Lytle

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The dramatic utilization of cybernated equipment has been one of the outstanding accomplishments of modern society. The benefits of this equipment, however, have not gone unchallenged. Since its introduction, automation has been a center of controversy, garnering ardent supporters and adamant critics. As a result, the impact of automation upon the individual and society has been the subject of study and research for both physical and social scientists.

It is the purpose of this study to (1) present a compendium of the literature about automation; (2) investigate the effect of automation upon the employment rate in the United States; (3) …

The Rise Of European Commercial Association During The Middle Ages, Ellen Douglas Moule

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The unity of Western Europe has not yet approached the political, economic and religious entity realized under the Roman Empire. Nor is it likely to duplicate such a centralized and authoritative basis of organization. It is the purpose of this paper to explore European economic association on the basis of co-operation rather than dominance. For this purpose historical cornerstones of economic co-operation and commercial endeavor will be discussed.

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Among them the individuals and groups who pursued trade not only revived the collapsed commerce known to the Roman world, but provided the framework for modern commercial and financial activity and …

Impact Of Technology On Labor, Allan Jeong Wong

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

It is not the intent of this paper to contribute to the body of technological knowledge nor even to report on it at length, but to investigate in one area the important economic and social effect caused by technological progress. It is the intent of this study to answer or at least throw some light on the problem of the technological impact on labor.

An Analysis Of The Effects Of Importing Farm Workers From Mexico, Robert Lafrance Dunbar

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Each year, hundreds of thousands of farm workers emigrate from Mexico. to cultivate and harvest crops on American farms and return to Mexico at the end of the harvest season. These men are permitted to enter the United States under the auspices of the Mexican farm labor program established by the federal government. The migration of these farm laborers has involved "...one of the most significant population movements in the Western Hemisphere in the last twenty-five years".

An Evaluation Of Various Economic Aspects Of The American Drug Industry, George Paul Moynihan Jr.

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Th focus of this thesis will be the alleged excessive market power or abuse of market power by firms in the drug industry. To this end, it will be necessary to discuss such aspects of the industry as prices and profits, patenting and licensing, innovation, promotion and generic versus brand name prescription. But since it is essential to limit the area of investigation, these considerations will be entered into only as they relate to the main focus of the study. The drug products under discussion will be “ethical” products. These are products requiring prescriptions written by a doctor, and without …

The Effects Of Regulation : A Study Of The Telephone Industry, Delbert David Evans

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The telephone industry in the United States today faces the task of meeting the needs for growth and technological improvement which our growing economy places before it. There is a constant need for growth capital, and a constant need for cooperation between company management and regulatory groups to see that the needs of the American public are adequately serves.

This thesis is about the economic environment within which the industry operates, and about the legal framework within which the regulatory groups must work. It is critical of the environment, and critical of the legal framework. There is no criticism of …

Controls And Analysis For Small Business Management, Lawrence Francis Daingerfield

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In this day of speed and efficiency there is a large segment of our medium and small sized businesses that is at least in part operating as in the horse and buggy days. The ideas presented here have been developed by actual practice and are based on information. obtained from sources listed in the bibliography. Because these ideas and theories have been modified over a period of four years of application, they seem to have lost their identity. Basically there is nothing new in the world, but man through a process of supplementation or modification has created what appeared to …

Stability And Progress In The Aircraft Industry : An Inquiry Into The Factors, Favorable And Unfavorable, To Stability And Progress, Robert Carl Clark

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Stability and progress are among the most important factors for study in an economic analysis of the aircraft manufacturing industry. Stability of an industry of such critical importance reduces the extreme dislocations associated with a free enterprise economy during business cycle fluctuations. Stability contributed to the maintenance of a high level of gross national product, employment, and income at local, regional and national levels of the economy. In addition, stability is essential to progress and is, therefore, of vital concern to the aircraft manufacturing industry, individual firms, the Federal Government, and the economy as a whole. Progress is required at …

A Survey Of Personal Counseling In Industry, Russell Monroe Manchester

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

During recent years the importance of the labor factor in industry's productive output has become a prime concern of management. The intangible matter of worker morale reveals itself in painfully tangible material output. The inauguration of counseling programs in industry represents one method employed by management in an attempt to utilize the volatile labor factor in increasing output and therefore, profits. Perhaps it is ironic that the worked is finally being recognized as an individual at his workplace where he spends the majority of this waking hours during his productive life.

A Study And Evaluation Of The Textbooks Used In Typewriting And Junior Business Training, Alice H. Harbers

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

he progress of man through the ages has been definitely marked by the various means he has employed in putting his thoughts into visible form. There are defnite milestones in the progress of the written word. History teaches us of the early Babylonian scripts, the strange and unusual characters of the Egyptians, and the writing of other ancient people. After the first early writings of stone carvings came the ancient development of papyrus in Egypt, the wax tables and atylus of the Romans, and the parchment of the Middle Ages. Then in the early days of that wondrous new era …

The Development And Justification Of A Course In Alcohol Education For Secondary Schools, Ernest E. Kaster

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

With the increasing pressure of the American way of life, increased tension and anxieties of our fast civilization, and increased pressure of the advertisements of the liquor industry on billboards, magazines, radio, and newspapers, the alcohol problem has been steadily increasing. It is estimated that two-thirds of the alcoholics begin their drinking while in high school. It would appear then that the high school is the proper place in which to prepare the future citizens to solve their problems in an intelligent and unbiased manner.

Maritime Labor Unions And Certain Other Factors Affecting The Shipping Industry In The Port Of San Francisco, 1931-1952, George Tway

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose or this paper. is to show that the decline in the Volume of tonnage handled by the Port of San Francisco from 1931 to 1952 is chiefly attributable to the tremendous economic growth of California since 1940. Other economic, as well as non-economic causes of this decline which are in the investigator's opinion, significant enough to warrant consideration, will be analyzed.

"Short-Term" Business Courses For California Junior Colleges, Wayne Edward Johnson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was: (1) to determine whether or not there is a place for "short-term" courses in the junior college business curriculum, (2) to set forth some guiding principles for the development of such courses, and (3) to record information that might be of assistance to business educators, curriculum planners, and administrators interested in exploring the possible incorporation of short-term courses in their curricula.

An Investigation To Determine The Extent To Which Speech Influences The Selection Of Employees, Paul Eugene Elam

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In 1951-58 American colleges and universities will graduate approximately two hundred thousand students, of which approximately three hundred will be graduated in Stockton, California--and will present them face to face with their prospective employers. Technically most of these students will be well qualified for their respective positions. The chemist will be qualified for further research; the doctor will be qualified to practice medicine; and the lawyer will be ready to defend his first client. But, with these technical skills mastered how will he present himself? His first interview with the employer usually tells the full story. Is his voice what …

Evaluation Of Oakdale Union High School Commercial Curriculum, Earl Kirby Johnson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The problem is : Does the business curriculum of Oakdale Joint Union High School meet the needs of the recent graduates who plan to enter business as a career?

A Survey Of Selected Business Offices In Modesto With Implications For Curriculum And Guidance At Modesto Junior College, Carol Kent Savage

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This survey of one hundred business offices in Modesto was conducted for the purpose of determining whether the office training curriculum offered by the Modesto Junior College adequately prepares students to successfully enter the office occupations in the community.

The History Of The Expropriation Of The American Oil Companies In Mexico, Marie F. Stebbins

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The Six Year Plan under President Cardenas had a positive structure built on the agrarian movement, the cooperative movement and the educational movement. In order to give the Mexicans an increasing share of the country's wealth, President Cardenas believed that the "process of building cooperatives was to shift the balance of economic power gradually from the capitalist class to the workers". He also believed that "Mexico never would become prosperous by serving as a siren for foreign capital because capitalism fattens on low wages." Then, too, "the workers would only prosper when industry was controlled by the governement and the …

The California Canning Asparagus Industry Under Government Sponsored Controls, Weldon Walter Lucot

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study is an analysis of the attempts to control the marketing of asparagus by federal license under the Agricultural Adjustment Act in 1934 and 1935; by state license under the California Marketing Agreement Act in 1936 and 1937; by proration program under the California Agricultural Prorate Act in 1938 to 1941; and by marketing orders under the California Agricultural Code from 1941 to 1945.

Among the questions considered are the following:

What was the economic position of the Asparagus Industry in 1934, when the programs were first instituted?

What were the effects of some previous attempts at controlled marketing …

The Ethical Criteria Apparently Assumed As Valid By Various Economic Theories Of Wages, Herbert L. Abbott

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

It is eminently logical that the bare first word of this essay should be as to the philosophical motive that makes it appear interesting and fruitful. If we let two circles represent, respectively, the fields of ethics and economics, it seems probable that they will somehow intersect, providing an area common to both. It is this presumptive borderland of ethics and economics that we intend to study under conditions of restricted method and scope. It should be confessed at once that our efforts will be necessarily and rigorously theoretical, our essay is one of partial clarification of the ethical character …

The Raisin Industry Of California, John W. Farrar

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This thesis has been prepared as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of faster of Arts, prescribed by the College of the Pacific, Stockton, California. It is sincerely hoped that it will be found useful to all of those who are at all interested in the great industry of raisin making, which has played no small part in the building up of the great San Joaquin Valley and has been responsible for bringing the much needed irrigation system to the valley.

Various types of data are here available, including personal opinions from the foremost leaders of the …

Branch Banking In California, Burrus Everett Claypool

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In this paper it is hoped to present an accurate account of branch banking conditions. as they exist in California, followed by an expression of the writer's views upon the subject which have come from an impartial consideration of the movement from several standpoints.

Part one explains briefly the nature of branch banking , tells something of its importance and success in other countries and of its development in the United States. A discussion of the branch systems that are active in California and a detailed description of the origin, growth and importance of one large organization in the state …