Business Commons^™

Competition Among Domestic Apparel Manufacturers, Mary Simpson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Apparel manufacturing characterizes a sustainable means of creating employment and encouraging economic growth; however, 86% of U.S. apparel manufacturing companies and 74.7% in North Carolina have closed since the late 1990s. Less than 3% of apparel bought in the United States is domestic. The purpose of this case study was to explore the strategies used by American apparel manufacturing business leaders who produce competitive products using Porter's diamond theory as the conceptual framework. Data were collected through semistructured interviews of 4 business leaders from an apparel manufacturer that had been in business a minimum of 5 years in North Carolina. …

Leading A Multigenerational Workforce In The Public Sector, Cynthia A. Thompson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

One of the demographic changes in the workplace is the presence of multiple generations working together. Some managers may find leading a multigenerational workforce a challenge, because the generational cohorts may have different work values and approaches to work. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how generational characteristics manifest in the workplace, how managers perceive a multigenerational workforce, and whether macro-level descriptions of generations creates stereotypes or recognizable indicators of behavior in the workplace. Mannheim's theory of generations and diversity management theory provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected through interviews and a …

Virtual Team Success: The Impact Of Leadership Style And Project Management Experience, Albert Udom

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The ability of project managers to effectively lead virtual teams is an important factor in the teams' success. Since the 1990s, organizations' use of virtual teams to plan and execute projects has increased, yet virtual teams continue to have high failure rates. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine whether a relationship exists between leadership styles, years of project management experience, and success of virtual teams. I used the path-goal theory of leadership as the theoretical framework for this study. A nonpurposive random sample of 160 project managers in the San Francisco Bay Area who had obtained the …

Strategies For Effective Financial Management In Vincentian Small Businesses, Kishore Nalin Shallow

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The lack of strategies for effective financial management has been an impediment to the survival and growth of many small businesses in Saint Vincent (St. Vincent), an island in the Caribbean. Inadequate adoption of strategies by small business owners is a prime contributing factor to small business failure. The purpose of this research was to identify strategies that small business owners use for effective financial management. Institutional theory served as the conceptual framework for this multiple case study. Participants consisted of 4 St. Vincent small business owners who had demonstrated effective financial management strategies in the operation of their businesses. …

Essential Executive Coaching Competencies For Enhancing Executive On-The-Job Performance: A Modified Delphi Study, Arturo Small Maxwell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Approximately 93% of Fortune 1000 companies in the United States rely upon executive coaching to accelerate executive performance. However, there is a lack of empirical research identifying effective executive coaching competencies. In this modified Delphi study, a panel of 17 executive coaching experts was purposefully selected from the International Coach Federation and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Participant selection criteria included training in executive coaching, executive coaching credentialing, and -?¥3 years practicing executive coaching or purchasing executive coaching services. Participants used a 5 point Likert-type questionnaire to provide their expert opinion regarding essential executive coaching competencies for enhancing …

Perceptions Of Women Of Color On Career Advancement In High Technology Management, Angela Michelle Charles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In information technology, few women of color hold senior level executive leadership positions in the United States. Currently, in the high-tech industry, Asian and Black women hold 1.7% of executive/senior-level positions, and only 0.2% are in CEO positions. The purpose of this research was to understand professional executive women of color experiences in career advancement in the high technology fields. The study's conceptual framework included organizational culture theory, Krumboltz's theory of career counseling, and the leadership pipeline model. The overarching research question and subquestions addressed the lived experiences of 15 professional senior executive women of color in relation to career …

Information & Communications Technologies Investment Decisions And Organizational Performance In Major Nonprofits In Kenya, Sylvester Musyoki Kisonzo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The levels of organizational performance (OP) achievable from a dollar investment in information and communications technologies (ICT) remains elusive. A consensus exits among scholars and organizational leaders that effective use of ICT improves OP yet managers continue to struggle to justify investments in ICT. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore and explain how investments in ICT related with OP. The study built on the resource-based view of the firm theoretical framework. A key question in the study was whether there existed a consistent, positive correlation between ICT investments, decision-making performance, and OP, and if so, explain the …

Clergy Academic Management Training In Non-Denominational Faith-Based Organizations, Patricia Anne Jenks-Greene

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is little research about how clerics manage and lead small to midsized non-denominational nonprofit organizations. The rate of clergy failures in non-denominational organizations has left many questions about what is needed to create organizational success. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences and perceptions of clergy manager-leaders' management training in non-denominational organizations. Fourteen full-time clerics from Bloomingdale, Georgia, Rincon, Georgia, and Savannah, Georgia participated in face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The data analysis process involved the use of Edward and Welch's extension of Colaizzi's data analysis procedures, which resulted in the emergence of 4 themes. …

Sustainability Strategies For Small Business Restaurant Owners, Alisa Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Half of new businesses in the United States cease to exist after the first 5 years of operations, and the failure rate continues to increase after the first 10 years. The study was grounded on von Bertalanffy's systems theory to explore business strategies that small business restaurant owners use to sustain their business beyond 5 years. Data were collected by engaging 3 small restaurant business owners in the Little Rock, Arkansas metropolis who sustained their business beyond 5 years. Information obtained from face-to-face interviews and data mining organizational document were analyzed with the support of qualitative software to generate themes. …

Manufacturing Managers' Leadership Efficacy In The Context Of Reduced Union Influence, James Richard Wright

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore whether manufacturing managers had the skills needed to lead union members whose unions have less influence than in the past. Leaders of manufacturing firms can strengthen the relationship between manufacturing managers and union members through positive and effective leadership. Providing union members with leadership can improve cooperation, reduce problem-solving time, and increase productivity through efficiency. The conceptual framework for this study was transformational leadership theory. Data collection involved conducting 20 semi structured interviews with participants affiliated with the United Auto Workers (UAW) in the Toledo, Ohio, area. The participants (9 manufacturing …

The Business Of Trails, Kerstin Stender

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Long distance trails have substantial infrastructure due to their length and provision of overnight shelters. Length and remoteness impact negatively on travel time for access, resulting in high maintenance costs. Additionally, as government budgets are declining globally, funding for trails can be difficult to source, leaving infrastructure to deteriorate.

This research investigated how long distance trails are managed, specifically from the perspective of a tourism product in a natural protected area. Global case studies were based on site visits and interviews with trail managers around the world, as well as a review of written documentation. Through comparative analysis the components …

A Different Approach To Project Management: The Use Of Soft Skills, Hannah Adams

Dissertations and Theses

The term soft skills is traditionally used to describe interpersonal and subjective skills such as leadership, communication, and emotional intelligence. This paper addresses a further explanation of soft skills, their relation to project management, project management education, and the highlighted differences between a transactional leader and a transformational leader. Project management has often been defined as the making of schedules/tasks; but more importantly providing the inspiration, motivation, and facilitator of great minds to produce innovative ideas. Because of the sheer necessity for human interaction within the project management profession, soft skills are of crucial concern. Although mastering soft skills is …

End-User Innovation Within Information Systems--A Post Deployment Impact Of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems, Amos Allie

Student Scholarship

The focus of this study concentrates on understanding the antecedents that explain post implementation interaction of End-User Analysts (EUA) within unique environments of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems deployment. Although contemporary literature on ERP Systems explain the relevance of End-User Analysts (EUA) at various spheres of post implementation space, we are yet to understand first, what explains End-User outcomes on Post Implementation Processes within ERP Systems. Also how and to what extent do End-Users involvement transform Post Implementation deployment outcomes. In minimizing perceptible projections in post implementation environments, we posit that End-User Analysts are strategically structured within post implementation environments to …

Leading Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises In A Difficult Period: What Differentiates Success From Failure, Emmanuel Quansah

Student Scholarship

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the largest engines of job creation and innovation in the U.S. and many parts of the world--yet most of them fail within the first five years of being opened. While the factors that contribute to their failures have been well studied, there is little empirical research about how they survive difficult economic periods. How can SMEs compete and grow in the face of today's complex, turbulent, and fiercely competitive business environment? The aim of this study is to provide a better understanding of how leaders of successful SMEs enable their businesses to survive and …

Nonprofit Ceo Sustainability: Maintaining Personal Wellbeing And Effective Organizational Leadership Over The Long Haul, Jeffrey D. Frey

Student Scholarship

Leadership sustainability ultimately rests in the hands of the leader. Critical incident interviews were conducted with twenty "sustainable" and ten "unsustainable" Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of diverse nonprofit organizations, as identified by trusted third party raters. Interviews were also conducted with fifteen spouses from this group of thirty. In addition, the CEOs’ organizations’ IRS Form 990 data was analyzed. A true focus on the organization’s mission, mastery over their relationships, and self-care significantly differentiated the sustainable CEOs from the unsustainable. With no significant differences in demographics, or personal and organizational pressures, the CEO’s perspective and actions directly impacted their capability …

Are We Having Fun Yet? What Is The Relationship Between Fun At Work, Manager Job Satisfaction, And Employee Job Satisfaction?, Anthony Scardillo

Student Scholarship

Purpose: This paper aims to critically examine the relationship between Fun at Work, Manager Job Satisfaction, and Employee Job Satisfaction and their Independent variables Role Model, Selflessness, Personal Fulfillment and Joy of Training. Approach: This paper is based on quantitative research into Fun at Work. A total of 338 Managers and Employees of advertising, marketing and sales professionals in the Albany, NY/Capital Region Market was used in this sample. The study was separated into two parts: Managers and Employees, and examined the role of Mentoring, with particular attention to such factors as Selflessness, Manager as a Role Model, Fulfilling Work …

Managing Entitled Employees, Usu Jon M. Huntsman School Of Business

Jon M. Huntsman School of Business News Collection

In today’s workplace, more and more employees are displaying feelings of entitlement which is creating problems and frustrations for managers. Entitled individuals have a unique way of interacting and communicating with others, including managers. On the one hand, they have a strong desire for autonomy. Entitled individuals dislike the idea of being beholden to others or being told what to do. On the other hand, they also exhibit a strong preference for what is known as sociotropy, meaning that they place a high value on the approval and affection of others. These dual—and somewhat conflicting—preferences for interaction and communication create …

Management Practices For The Development Of Religious Tourism Sacred Sites: Managing Expectations Through Sacred And Secular Aims In Site Development; Report, Store And Access, Peter Wiltshier, Maureen Griffiths

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Through a distillation of practices reflective of the extant literature and socio-economic approaches to inclusive development of sites of religious experiences and worship, we posit that there are seven core conceptual approaches to support evolving site management needs. Therefore, developing sites of special significance necessarily requires the dissemination and sharing of both intellectual and practical contributions to meet those needs in a planned and stakeholder-driven approach. Traditional approaches to development emerged half a century ago with a focus on core competencies and the agreed understanding that open and fair competition would raise quality and assure reasonable profit margins. Creating awareness …

Managing A Large Scale Project: Using Strengthsfinder In The Website Redesign, Laura Edwards, Cristina Tofan

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

After doing a library-wide StrengthsFinder assessment that highlighted the strengths of its individuals, EKU Libraries decided to put this strategy into practice by applying it to one of the most complex projects in the life of an academic library: the website redesign. This decentralized approach allowed project managers to align strengths-based teams with phases of the redesign that would most benefit from that team’s unique strengths.

Manager In The Making: Learning To Manage People, Projects, And Time, Laura Edwards, Cristina Tofan

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

In addition to keeping their own professional skills up to date, new managers need to learn quickly how to think strategically, delegate, and successfully supervise and lead their staff. In most cases, these skills are learned on the job, without prior training or with limited mentoring. We will draw on what we learned from the literature and from our own experience to illustrate the skills that we feel contribute the most to the making of a great manager and, ultimately, an effective leader.

Corporate Governance In Indian Banks Post Subprime Crisis, Sunaina Kanojia, Sawaliya Priya

Journal of Global Business Insights

This paper attempts to unearth quality of corporate governance practices of Indian Banking sector and highlight whether the corporate governance practices of listed public and private sector banks are symmetric post subprime crisis. The study examines that whether the key corporate governance factors like capital adequacy ratio, board size, number of independent directors and CEO duality affects the performance of banks. In addition to this, the paper goes on to find the essence of shareholding by non-executive directors and the regularity of directors in attending the board meetings. Further, for the perusal of corporate governance practices followed in the Indian …

Editorial: Volume 1 - Issue 2, Cihan Cobanoglu, Serdar Ongan

Journal of Global Business Insights

The National Academies defines interdisciplinary research as “a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice.” The fields of business and economics are very suitable for interdisciplinary research. For this reason, we decided to develop and publish an international double blind peer reviewed journal - International Interdisciplinary Business- Economics Advancement (IIBA) Journal - to feature business and economics …

Consciousness Of Connectedness, Greater Purpose And Positive Business, Social And Environmental Outcomes, Joseph Leah

Student Scholarship

Do leaders who define their business in terms of achieving a greater purpose as well as financial profit attain more favorable outcomes in terms of both profit and social or environmental outcomes? When those leaders approach their business with a sense of connectedness (or what we call a "consciousness of connectedness"), do they create an environment in their organizations with higher levels of shared vision, greater compassion and collaboration, and does this in turn lead to positive social and environmental outcomes as well as better economic outcomes? This exploratory research is aimed at investigating how a consciousness of connectedness within …

Supporting Space Systems Design Via Systems Dependency Analysis Methodology, Cesare Guariniello

Open Access Dissertations

The increasing size and complexity of space systems and space missions pose severe challenges to space systems engineers. When complex systems and Systems-of-Systems are involved, the behavior of the whole entity is not only due to that of the individual systems involved but also to the interactions and dependencies between the systems. Dependencies can be varied and complex, and designers usually do not perform analysis of the impact of dependencies at the level of complex systems, or this analysis involves excessive computational cost, or occurs at a later stage of the design process, after designers have already set detailed requirements, …

Exploring U.S. Retail Employees’ Experiences Of Corporate Hypocrisy, Saheli Goswami, Jung E. Ha-Brookshire

Organization Management Journal

Corporate hypocrisy (CH) exists when people believe that firms are not what they claim to be. Much of the previous research has focused on how consumers may perceive firms as hypocritical and how that might affect firms’ sales and profits, but little has been researched on CH as experienced by employees. This study explored CH experienced by employees in the U.S. retail sector, which is predominantly comprised of part-time, low-income personnel. Through in-depth interviews of 16 retail employees, the study revealed that for participants, inconsistencies in both supervisors’ and corporate claims and actions resulted in perceived CH in employees. This, …

A Comparison Of Managerial And Leadership Effectiveness Of Veteran And Civilian Developed Leaders In A Civilian Context, John C. Dexter

Human Resource Development Theses and Dissertations

Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, there has been an increase in American patriotism that has facilitated a strong commitment of U.S. employers to actively recruit and hire military veterans. These highly publicized employer veteran hiring commitments easily number in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. However, the commitments to employ veterans does not specify how these veterans will be employed. In fact, there is wide-spread difficulty in translating military training and experience to civilian applications, and there is virtually no empirical support as to whether veterans will be more of less successful in civilian employment than …

Family Asset Building Coalition's Case For Support, Nada Bakir, Kailyn Wells

Fundraising and Marketing

The Family Asset Building Coalition (FABC) is a partnership of nonprofit and community organizations united by the common goal of assisting low-income families achieve economic mobility.

This is their case for support.

Examining The Application Of Experiential Learning Techniques Across Sport Management Programs, Elizabeth Sattler

Theses and Dissertations

The Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA) has identified experiential learning projects as an integral element to be included in sport management curriculum (COSMA, 2016). However, often the experiential learning opportunities offered by sport management programs are limited to a required internship experience (Foster & Dollar, 2010). While internship programs have been widely accepted and implemented by sport management programs (Eagleman & McNary, 2010), there is little evidence of the implementation of other experiential learning practices within sport management programs. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to investigate the widespread application of experiential learning practices of sport management faculty. …

Chapman University 2016 Environmental Audit: Residence Life Dining Services Equipment, Alexandra Fw Sidun, Devon T. Bloss

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Chapman University accommodates over 1700 student meal plans per day through the on-campus dining services provided by Sodexo Restaurant Services. The commercial-grade kitchens found in the Randall Dining Commons (RDC) of Sandhu Conference Center are frequently used to prepare food for students for every meal, seven days a week. The RDC kitchen facility has staff working around the clock and high consumption electrical, water, and gas appliances constantly running to parallel the high demand. The frequent use of commercial kitchen appliances results in an enormous consumption of energy and water resources leading to comparably high utility bills. Measuring the energy …

Educating Managers On How To Manage Introverted Vs. Extroverted Employees, Madison Hays

Honors Projects

While personality types are a popular topic in society today, many don't really understand what they mean and what implications they can have. This project combines the disciplines of both management and psychology, seeking to educate managers on how the two personality traits of introversion and extroversion can impact their ability to effectively manage employees in the workplace. It is presented in the form of a blog, each post identifying and answering an anticipated question that a manager would have while integrating personality considerations into their job practices. Also included are reviews on popular non-fiction books that are recommended for …