Business Commons^™

A Capstone Journey In Enterprise Software Consulting For Microsoft: How An Interdisciplinary Philosophy Fosters Critical Thinking And Promotes Cross-Functional Teamwork, Jacob Mccall

University Honors Theses

This capstone review thesis explores the application of strategic innovation and enterprise software with a Portland State University (PSU) School of Business Administration (SBA) interdisciplinary team consulting for Microsoft. Faced with improving pitch meetings with a new target audience of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs), Microsoft’s West Coast enterprise software sales team sought consultation from the PSU SBA 2023 Business Honors cohort. This text reflects on the precursors responsible for the consulting project’s success, including the university’s guiding principles, interdisciplinary philosophy, and applicable business practices. The final solution includes insights into CMO types, needs development, a marketing enterprise software visual sales …

The Praxis Of Professional Communication In Simulated Business: Psu Capstone Analysis, Molly Daniels

University Honors Theses

"Let knowledge serve the city" serves not only as Portland State University's motto but also as the guiding intent of the Business Administration capstone program to assist local companies in the city of Portland. This review covers the experience of my participation in the program including the use of education and challenges. While the experience recorded within is atypical due to the unforeseen closure of the participating client, effective communication studies with clients and other students remain pressing. This entailed examining the quantitative and qualitative needs of a hybrid coffee shop and event space and whether changing to a larger …

Business Analysis And Recommendations For Timber, Jared Alexander

University Honors Theses

To close out my PSU school of business experience, I've been placed on a team with five other classmates in the School of Business honors program cohort to help a business owner with some hurdles they are facing in their ventures. Throughout the last nine weeks, my teammates and I conducted a lot of research, and gave four presentations to the business owner. Our final presentation highlighted our final recommendations. The name of the business owner and company have been anonymized for confidentiality. All images featuring the name or logo of the company have been covered.

In this capstone review, …

The Evolution Of Leadership During The Covid-19 Pandemic: An Analysis Of The Research, Luca Patrick Thierry Gregston

University Honors Theses

A crisis, however terrible in its consequences, is also a great opportunity to study and create new models of leadership, to discover how the concept of leadership has evolved over the pandemic. Hence this paper's research question, "How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed the concept and practice of leadership? In the end much of the empirical evidence for what COVID 19 did or didn't change in leadership practices is still relatively ambiguous. So it is too early to say that "business as usual" is gone for good. And COVID furthered and deepened long term trends, accelerating the great resignation and …

Traits Of Leadership, Alinta Magdalene Ali

University Honors Theses

The objective of this thesis is to analyze the correlation between leadership styles, introverted and extroverted trails, and their impact on effective leadership within the workplace. The first section defines leadership and introduces leadership styles: servant, transformational, identity, autocratic, democratic, and coaching. The discuss delves into the distinctive characteristics, advantages, and obstacles associated with each leadership style, highlighting how each leadership prioritize personalized guidance and assistance for team members. The second section explores the introvert and extrovert aspects and how they complement each other in the workplace. Effective leaders possess the ability to adjust their personality traits, exhibiting both social …

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 …

Portland State University Spring Symposium Report, Stephen Percy, Amy Mulkerin, Anna Ruby, Andria Johnson, Rowanna L. Carpenter, Jill Emery, Jennifer H. Allen, Kevin Neely, Lindsey Wilkinson, Cara Meyer, Michelle Janke, Jen Gray-O'Connor, Brad Simmons, Kelly Fry

Office of the President Publications and Presentations

The 2023 Spring Symposium arose in response to a request to PSU administrators in a Faculty Senate Resolution. That resolution noted the high level of interest by the Faculty Senate in both understanding and engaging in the university’s budgeting processes.

The Symposium offered an opportunity for all PSU employees to come together to identify priorities and shared purpose regarding the university’s approach to long term financial planning. The recommendations created during the symposium are being shared with incoming president Ann Cudd to inform her thinking as PSU pursues a path toward financial sustainability.

Table of Contents

04 Statement from President …