Business Commons^™

Successful Strategies For Implementing Emr Systems In Hospitals, Marcia M. Nicholas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some hospital leaders are ineffective in implementing the electronic medical record (EMR) systems in the hospitals. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies hospital leaders use to successfully implement EMR systems. The target population consisted of hospital leaders and healthcare professionals from two hospitals who have successfully implemented EMR systems. The conceptual framework of this research study was Kotter's 8-stage process for leading change, building on the model of an effective change management method. Data were collected from 5 interviewed participants and company documents related to strategies regarding the EMR system implementation. The results of reviewing …

Improving Access Of Small Business Owners To Microloan From Microfinance Institutions In Nigeria, Hyeladzira Mshelia Ochonogor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract

Most microloan applicants in Nigeria are denied access to financial services by the commercial banks because of the high risk involved in granting loans to an individual without tangible assets to offer as collateral. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore small business owners' understanding of suitable funding options from microfinance banks in Nigeria to sustain their businesses beyond the first 5 years. An investigation was conducted on how small business owners could obtain information on funding options most suitable to sustain their business. Guided by the ethical banking operations framework theory, the strategies business …

The Wealth Gap A Cross-Sectional Quantitative Analysis Of Self-Esteem And Monetary Power, Willard Edwin Pretlow

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The median wealth of Blacks is lower than that of Whites by 90 percent. The corresponding median income for Blacks is 40 percent below Whites. Additional research has revealed that Blacks tend to invest in low-yielding assets and borrow at high interest rates. The alarming problem is that financial outcomes and behaviors can be associated with race. In this cross-sectional quantitative study, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem and the Money Attitude Scale, both are Likert-type scales, served as survey instruments to collect data from Blacks and Whites about their individual financial behaviors. The purpose of this survey was to explore the relationship …

Success Strategies For Small Service Business Owners, Diana Ratcliff

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business owners struggle to sustain their businesses over time. According to U.S. Census data in 2014, only half of all small businesses survived beyond the first 5 years of operation, and only a third survived longer than 10 years. Grounded with the strategic contingency theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies small service business owners used to succeed beyond the first 5 years of operation. The target population consisted of 4 owners of small service and retail businesses in Arlington, VA, with fewer than 50 employees who have succeeded in business longer than 5 …

The Relationship Between Georgia Public School Educational Funding Sources And Academic Achievement, Rosalind Ray

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, state educational finance systems are required to ensure that every student obtains an adequate and equitable education. The purpose of this quantitative study was to evaluate the financial management aspect of public funding and the consequences of Georgia's reliance on local property tax revenue for financing its public school districts and attaining student academic achievement outcomes. The research questions examined whether there was a difference in student academic achievement levels of economically disadvantaged (ED) students based on the total 8th grade student population, annual property valuations, and median home sale prices during the 2006-2014 school terms. …

Management Strategies For Adopting Agile Methods Of Software Development In Distributed Teams, Igor A. Schtein

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Between 2003 and 2015, more than 61% of U.S. software development teams failed to satisfy project requirements, budgets, or timelines. Failed projects cost the software industry an estimated 60 billion dollars. Lost opportunities and misused resources are often the result of software development leaders failing to implement appropriate methods for managing software projects. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies software development managers use in adopting Agile methodology in the context of distributed teams. The tenets of Agile approach are individual interaction over tools, working software over documentation, and collaboration over a contract. The conceptual …

Transformational Leadership And Frontline Hoteliers Worklife Balance Commitment, Rosalind "Rosie" Banks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Work-life balance remains a challenge for transformational leaders who are managers in the hospitality industry. Guided by the principles of leader member exchange theory, this quantitative study investigated how transformational leadership level predicted a commitment to work-life balance roles for 100 degreed frontline hotel managers. In particular, the effects of transformational leadership and commitment on job roles, family roles, friendship roles, and social roles were explored. Transformational leadership was measured using the Team Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, and work-life balance role commitment was measured using the Investment Model Scale Commitment Inventory. There was a thorough review of the responses from the …

Women's Perceptions Toward Mobile Advertising, Shona Dolson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The use of technology is changing at a very rapid pace, and companies must strategically design advertising messages for the ever-changing devices and platforms. The general business problem was that business owners have not been able to maximize the profitability of mobile advertising messages directed at women. The specific business problem was that business leaders need strategies to enhance mobile advertising returns by targeting messages that incorporate women's perceptions of mobile advertising. The purpose of this case study was to explore how business leaders can enhance mobile advertising returns by incorporating women's perceptions of mobile advertising into the design of …

Urban And Suburban Differences In Cultural Identification, Life-Guiding Principles, And Person-Organization Fit, Joseph Edigin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Diversity practitioners in the United States have taken steps to implement programs for integration of people in organizations from across the socioeconomic and demographic spectrum. Despite changes in U.S. discrimination laws and work by diversity practitioners, maintaining equitable workplace diversity continues to be a problem in U.S. corporations. This correlational study was conducted to examine differences in life-guiding principles, urban identification, and person-organization fit between urban and suburban residents. A purposive sample of 180 adults was drawn in a voluntary online survey from industries in two U.S. representative counties with a mix of urban and suburban sprawl. This study was …

Strategies For Selecting And Individualizing Training For Employee Positioning, Reba Michelle Royster

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Lack of effective selection and training of employees for positioning within a business can have extensive financial repercussions. Fostering mentoring relationships between leaders and employees increases competitive advantage and institutional financial growth. However, there is limited research that supports the role of mentoring leadership styles for improving organizational productivity. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies used by business managers to select and individually train employees for opportunities within the organization to achieve job-person fit. The sample included 5 business managers employed within a medium-sized organization in a consultation firm in the mid-Atlantic region of the …

U.S. Corporate Energy Productivity, Greenhouse Gas Productivity, And Return On Equity, Terry Geonnie Tate

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Corporate leaders are expected to engage in corporate social responsibility by some stakeholders, but there is no consistent evidence that corporate social performance relates to financial performance. Grounded in instrumental stakeholder theory, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship among energy productivity, greenhouse gas productivity, and return on equity. The 2016 Newsweek Green Ranking U.S. 500 was the population for this study, which consisted of the largest companies in the United States with the highest corporate social performance scores. The secondary data were collected from Newsweek.com and Morningstar.com for this study. The multiple linear regression was …

Transformational Leadership And Job Satisfaction In The Federal Government, Dorothy Marquitia Thomas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Since 2002, the federal government has disseminated surveys to all of its federal agencies

to obtain employees' views on the federal agencies' work environments. This study examined the relationship between employees' perception of their leaders' transformational leadership skills and employee job satisfaction. This study was conducted in a metropolitan area in the midwestern United States using 12 federal agencies, totaling approximately 33,000 employees. The theoretical framework for this study was transformational leadership theory. The 5 constructs published by House and Burns were used in multifactor leadership questionnaire surveys by scholarly and peer-reviewed studies and represent the primary leadership skills. The …

Sustainability Strategies For Successful Small Businesses, Barbara Stovall

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small businesses struggle to survive for longer than 5 years because owners lack knowledge of strategies to sustain financial capital. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies small business owners used to maintain financial capital to ensure survivability for longer than 5 years. The sample included 3 successful service- related small business owners located in the southeastern United States. Systems theory and the theory of entrepreneurship provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data collection involved face-to-face, semistructured interviews and a review of company websites and organizational documents. Member checking enhanced the credibility of the findings. …

Strategies For Improving Profitability Through Effective Internal Controls, Melissa M. Washington

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Between 2007 and 2009, the United States experienced a financial crisis. Many businesses experienced difficulties obtaining funds for projects and working capital due to the great recession. As a result, many business owners filed for bankruptcy. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that some small business owners in the construction industry used when implementing internal control processes to improve profits. The study population entailed 6 individuals in the southeast region of the United States who successfully implemented internal control processes to improve profits. The data collected were from face-to-face interviews, analysis of company documents, and …

Groupthink Among German, British, American, And Soviet Leaders During The Holocaust, Alan Woolf

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Understanding the psychology behind the perpetrators of the Holocaust has been difficult because experiments on conformity and obedience cannot readily simulate the reality of the Holocaust. There exists historical documentation surrounding the leaders of the Nazi organization instrumental for the perpetration of the Holocaust, but the underlying motives of Hitler's leaders relating to governmental policies of systematic extermination of the Jews in Europe, are not known, as the strategy and operationalization of the actions were kept extremely secret, disguised by euphemisms, or only discussed verbally. This research study was to further understand the thought processes behind the manipulation tactics applied …

The Emotional Intelligence Of Successful African American Entrepreneurs, Breanna Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American entrepreneurs in Houston, TX, lack the emotional intelligence required

to be self-employed and remain in business. The purpose of this qualitative interview study was to gain a robust understanding of what strategies African American entrepreneurs can adopt to increase emotional intelligence, which will aid them in remaining in business beyond the first 5 years. The central research question focused on common understandings of the strategies African-American entrepreneurs in Houston, TX, adopt to increase their emotional intelligence such that it contributes to them remaining in business beyond the initial 5 years. The conceptual framework that grounded the study was …

Crop Insurance Strategies For Mitigating Net Underwriting Losses, Kennedy K. Kitur

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Crop insurance is an essential risk management tool for America's agricultural producers because a single crop failure or disastrous year can eliminate the results of multiple years of profitability. Crop insurance is designed to provide financial protection to farmers; however, insurance managers who lack managerial underwriting strategies disrupt companies to the point of financial distress. Self-insurance and self-protection theory were the conceptual frameworks for this single-case study to explore successful strategies that insurance managers used to mitigate net underwriting losses. Four insurance and senior strategic managers from an insurance company in the midwestern United States were recruited through a purposeful …

Strategies For Success And Sustainability In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises Beyond The First 5 Years, Atem Emmanuel Ndeisieh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to the Cameroon Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Regional Development, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) employ over 70% of the active population and contribute significantly to economic growth and development, yet the failure rate of SMEs in the region within the first 5 years remains at 72%. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies that SME owners used to sustain their businesses for longer than the first 5 years. With the resource-based view as the conceptual framework, purposive sampling was used to select 5 owners of small food-processing enterprises in Cameroon who demonstrated successful …

Effective Organizational Culture Strategies For A Firm Operating In Foreign Countries, Peter Morcos

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizational culture is a significant driver of success for firms, especially for those considering expansion to foreign countries. The purpose of this single case study was to explore effective cultural-oriented strategies that senior business leaders use to align the organization's culture with foreign countries' cultures to improve organizational performance in foreign countries. The target population was 8 current and former senior managers of a firm operating in 16 countries. Data were collected via a mix of videoconference and face-to-face interviews and the firm's archival documents, the financial statements, the HR policy, and the internal control policy. The conceptual framework that …

Strategies Small Construction Business Managers Use To Reduce Safety Incidents In Their Organization, Peggy Ann Mcknight

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Globally the construction industry struggles to prevent injurious and fatal safety incidents. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies used by construction business managers that had significantly reduced the occurance of safety incidents in a Northwest Ohio construction company. Data were collected from organizational records and interviews with 6 construction managers. The conceptual framework for this research was the concept of safety management systems. Data were compiled and organized, disassembled into fragments, grouped, and then interpreted for meaning. Methodological triangulation and member checking were used to enhance reliability and validity. Four themes emerged from the data: …

Strategies Business Managers Use To Engage Employees In The Chemical Industry, Akeem A. Adeyemi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Lack of employee engagement in the workplace is one of the leading causes of lost productivity in the United States, estimated to cost organizations between $450 to $550 billion per year. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the strategies that some business managers in the chemical industry use to engage employees and increase productivity. The population for the study consisted of 5 small chemical business managers of a chemical company in the northeastern United States that demonstrated success in engaging employees. The conceptual framework for the study was social exchange theory. Data were collected from small …

Impact Of Empowerment And Autonomy On The Nursing Director's Intent To Stay, Tiffany Bergquist

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Retention of nursing directors is important to the viability and success of the healthcare industry because they have a large impact on nursing job satisfaction, overall retention of nurses in an institution, productivity, and patient outcomes. Factors that retain nurse directors, such as autonomy and empowerment, appear to be important to job satisfaction, but there is little in the current research to corroborate these findings. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine what factors impact nursing directors' intent to stay in their current role and what effect role autonomy and empowerment have on their intent to stay as …

Nursing Leadership And Employee Satisfaction Perception In A Virtual Work Environment, Angelique Duffy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Virtual team leaders in health care must have the right resources available to help them effectively perform their jobs. Better performance from the leader may lead to greater employee satisfaction. The problem addressed by this study was the impact of leadership style on employee satisfaction of virtual nurses. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to investigate the relationship between the leadership styles of virtual nursing environment leaders as perceived by virtual employee nurses and the nurses' satisfaction as measured by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire-short form. Building on the theoretical foundation of Bass's 1990 work, this study examined the …

Organizational Policy Prohibiting Marriage Between Coworkers In The Nigerian Banking Sector, Pamela Obi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Human Resources (HR) policy prohibiting marriage between coworkers contributes to employee attrition and an unhappy, demoralized, and unengaged workforce in commercial banks in Nigeria. Marriage between coworkers has resulted in forced resignations in commercial banks in Nigeria and employees' perception of being unfairly treated in their organizations. The purpose of this qualitative case study, based on the conceptual framework of organizational justice, was to explore how bank employees whose spouses resigned due to the HR policy prohibiting marriage between coworkers respond to this policy. Fifteen such employees participated in semistructured, one-on-one interviews, and 5 other employees participated in a …

Small Business Owners Strategies In The Retail Grocery Sector, Panzo Nteka

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In Angola, 96.7% of established small businesses fail. Thus, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies retail grocery store owners in Angola use to succeed beyond 5 years. The population of the study consisted of 5 retail grocery storeowners who sustained their businesses longer than 5 years in Angola. The conceptual framework for this study was the resource-based view. Face-to-face, semistructured interviews and company documentation review were used to collect data. Yin's 5-phase cycle, which includes (a) compiling, (b) disassembling, (c) reassembling, (d) interpreting, and (e) concluding, was used to find patterns, themes, and categories from …

Employee Engagement Strategies To Improve Profitability In Retail, Kimberly D. Polite

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract

Retail business leaders can improve profitability when they implement employee engagement strategies. The purpose of this single case study was to explore employee engagement strategies retail leaders use to improve profitability. The population included 6 department leaders in a single retail organization in the southeastern United States. The conceptual framework included Kahn's employee engagement theory. Using Yin's 5-step data analysis process, data from semistructured interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed to gain employee engagement strategies that retail leaders use to improve profitability. Four major themes emerged that retail business leaders use to increase profitability: having daily staff interaction, hiring …

Leadership Styles Manufacturing Business Managers Use To Reduce Workplace Injuries, Joe Sparks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The cost of workplace injuries is a major concern for business managers. Business managers in the production, transportation, and material moving industries experience the highest injury rate with an annual average of 198.5 lost days away from work. The purpose of this single case study was to explore transformational leadership skills and strategies used by manufacturing business managers to reduce workplace injuries. The conceptual framework for this study was Bass and Burns's transformational leadership theory. Data collection included semistructured interviews to elicit narratives from 3 managers from a metal manufacturing company located in the southeastern United States about the leadership …

Strategies For Sustainability In Multilevel Marketing Organizations, Nicole Renea Cordell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The number of entrepreneurs in the direct sales industry has steadily increased since 2010; however, the annual turnover rate is 56%. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore multilevel marketing (MLM) entrepreneurial leadership strategies implemented to help ensure sustainability of entrepreneurial MLM businesses for longer than 5 years. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 10 entrepreneurs who maintained an MLM business more than 5 years and used a hierarchical status that required a team. The transformational leadership theory constituted the conceptual framework for researching leadership as a concept of entrepreneurship and sustainability in MLM. Data were collected …

Marketing Strategies To Improve Online Sales, Paul Barrie Targett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Marketing executives of traditional retail firms who lack strategies to expand e-commerce business, can experience inhibited growth, higher transaction costs, and a loss of competitive advantage. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore marketing strategies that marketing executives of a traditional retail firm used to improve online sales. Eight purposefully selected marketing executives in the head offices of a large traditional retail business in South Africa who had implemented effective marketing strategies to improve online sales participated in the study. Social exchange theory was the conceptual framework for the study. The data collection process entailed face-to-face …

Effective Internet Marketing Strategies For Online Fashion Jewelry Businesses, Zohreh Daemi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business owners who fail to apply effective Internet marketing strategies could negatively affect customers' purchasing decisions, and business profitability and sustainability. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore effective Internet marketing strategies online fashion jewelry business owners used to maintain or increase profit levels. Competitive advantage theory was the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected via semistructured interviews with 3 online fashion jewelry business owners located in the northeastern region of the United States who were in the same business for more than 5 years and generated at least $100,000 in annual revenue. Additionally, …