Business Commons^™

An Evaluation Of The Implementation Of Total Quality Management In A Service Organization, Charles Stanford Stevens

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This research consists of a formative evaluation designed to identify the steps necessary to revitalize a formerly successful Total Quality Management (TQM) process at a U.S. Navy engineering and logistics support organization. The research also developed a methodology to account for the fact that the investigator is a well-informed insider who served as one of the principle change agents for the TQM implementation.

The research is based on the researcher's observation that the major cause for the waning implementation was due to senior management and leadership issues and the organization-wide processes with which they interface. The investigation consisted of an …

A Cipp Evaluation Of The Administrative Associate Training Program Through Sentara, Patricia A. Criswell

Community & Environmental Health Theses & Dissertations

Hospitals are facing change in today's environment. In order to meet these growing challenges, they are responding by providing value added services. Value added services have been defined as reducing inefficiencies and improving quality and service. Operational restructuring in the form of a new concept called patient-focused care has become the paradigm shift and structural revamping at several hospitals across the nation. Sentara Hospitals have adopted this program to improve the clinical and service quality delivered to the patient. An integral component of this new approach is the multiskilling of staff to reduce duplication, inefficiencies, and improve the quality provided …

Materialism And The Self, Kathleen Shirley Micken

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Materialism has been called the most significant macro development in modern consumer behavior. Despite its importance, research about the construct is rather new. Two scales have been developed to measure materialism, one proposed by Belk, the other by Richins and Dawson.

The purpose of this dissertation is threefold. First, it extends the materialism research program by investigating the relationship between materialism and one's self concept. Hypotheses which drive the research posit that people who are more materialistic have lower self-esteem, are less likely to be self-actualized, are extrinsically rather than intrinsically motivated, and are likely to be high self-monitors. The …

Cross-Cultural Issues In The Management Of German-Owned Business Subsidiaries In Hampton Roads, Teja Ulrich

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

'Culture' can be described as patterns of thinking, feeling and acting that distinguish one cultural group from another. Cultural diversity is therefore likely to introduce variety to organizations in which individuals from different national backgrounds are working together. Although this variety bears the potential for an improvement of the cognitive development in the organizations, managers of multicultural business organizations tend to perceive cultural diversity as a disadvantage. This thesis attempts to identify the impact of cultural differences between Germans and Americans on organizations in which German managers work with American employees. German managers of eight business subsidiaries in the Hampton …

A Preliminary Study Of A Job Analytic Inventory Derived From A Behavioral Consistency Method For Assessing Intrinsic Motivation, William John Banis

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

The research question for this study asked if the Job Specifications Inventory (JSI) had acceptable internal reliability and an ability to differentiate among occupational groups. The JSI was designed to have subject matter experts rate the importance of skill, content, context, relationship and work focus requirements of jobs or occupations. The JSI used a taxonomy of 268 behavioral elements derived from the content analyses of satisfying achievements reported by a large, diverse clientele. A clinical-type behavioral consistency method was used to extract performance dimensions from clients' achievements to build the taxonomy. The achievement-based taxonomy was seen as potentially enhancing productivity …

Managerial Roles And Entrepreneurship In Non-Profit Urban Arts Agencies In Virginia, Beth Joan Novitch Rossheim

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

The future of the arts in Virginia depends on knowing how arts agencies are functioning and surviving at a time of resource decline. What roles do managers play in administering agencies? What business and management skills do managers use to maintain an agency and to relate to the community? How do managers handle cutbacks? Does entrepreneurship create more viable arts agencies?

Bivariate data analysis separated managers into four role groups: entrepreneur, administrator, artist, and caretaker, according to their perceived degree of programmatic creativity and documented access to organizational resources. Managerial role types were compared with management behaviors to discern significant …

Export Marketing Development Program Selection, Albert Phillip Bianchi Jr.

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is an arrangement of export development programs which could be utilized by state agencies to best serve the economic and social policy goals of states.

Quantitative and qualitative techniques were employed in conducting this research. Descriptive information was gathered from surveys of state export development agencies. A Delphi methodology was used to gain consensus from public managers about program goals and program effectiveness.

The research demonstrates that there are primary goals which states pursue, such as employment generation and providing exporter assistance, for which certain export promotion activities are considered …

The Influence Of Cohesive Groups On The Ethical Behavior Of Public Employees: An Analysis Of An Urban University, Patricia Bellin Strait

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

Ethics problems permeate all aspects of public agencies. This is especially true in urban areas where public workers have frequent interactions with large numbers of civilians. The results of unethical behavior often have very tangible effects with perhaps the most serious consequences being the deterioration of public services and the destruction of public trust.

This dissertation explores Milton Fisk's Group Ethics Theory which states that ethical behavior varies according to cohesive group membership. In order to investigate Fisk's theory, an ex post facto study was performed within a single urban university. The primary independent variable was group membership. Data was …

Diffusion Of Total Quality Management: An Organizational Self-Production Perspective, Baizhong Zhao

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

American industries are in the process of a quality revolution. Most companies are busy implementing Total Quality Management (TQM) programs. However, the experience of both Japanese and American companies indicates that successful TQM implementation depends on an understanding of implementation processes, which itself relies on an understanding of organizational self-organizing, for it is through this process that TQM gets diffused and becomes a core component of an organization's culture. Self-organizing is a so-called process-oriented approach, based on theory from cybernetics (Ashby, 1962; Steier & Smith, 1985; von Foerster, 1960), dissipative structure theory (Prigogine & Stengers, 1984), and chaos theory (Gleick, …

Cultural Transposition: Exploring Meanings Of And Strategies For Cross-Cultural Transfer Of Organizational Practices, Yongming Tang

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The research objective is to study the phenomenon of transferring organizational practices which are conceptualized in one culture to another different culture. The purpose of the study is (1) to understand how cultural values and beliefs are manifested in behavior; (2) to explore how the Western organizational practices are interpreted and assimilated into an organization in an Eastern culture; and (3) to explore strategies for the fit between local cultural orientations and imported organizational practices. A qualitative, interpretive, and reflexive research methodology was developed to conduct this study.

The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase was designed …