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Brigham Young University

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Articles 361 - 390 of 492

Full-Text Articles in Business Administration, Management, and Operations

The Effects Of Inflation On Businesses In Brazil, Brian Morgan, Dr. Lee Radebaugh Aug 2013

The Effects Of Inflation On Businesses In Brazil, Brian Morgan, Dr. Lee Radebaugh

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The grant I received has helped me write an honors thesis entitled, “The Effects of Inflation on Businesses in Brazil.” For many years now, Brazil has been plagued with high levels of inflation. Although small amounts of inflation can help an economy grow, inflation in Brazil has often exceeded such small amounts. Now, a new economic plan has been introduced which has cut inflation dramatically. My honors thesis focused on the effects of the constantly changing economic environment on businesses within Brazil.

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The Learning Advantage: The Effect Of Operational Focus On The Rate Of Organizational Learning, Jeffrey Savage, Dr. Peter Madsen Aug 2013

The Learning Advantage: The Effect Of Operational Focus On The Rate Of Organizational Learning, Jeffrey Savage, Dr. Peter Madsen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My ORCA project is primarily focused on organizational learning. I am working closely with Peter Madsen, my mentor, to gather data and find supporting literature. Our hypothesis is that strategic focus will increase the rate at which organizations learn. In a nuclear power plant, this can be measured by the number of delays for maintenance that occur in a plant. We hypothesize that organizations that operate in a narrowly defined domain will learn faster than other companies in that domain, even if they have the same level of aggregate experience. This topic is currently under debate in the management literature; …

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“Working To Put Food On The Table”: Fractured Identities And Mission Drift In A South African Nonprofit Organization, Eric C. Darsow, Dr. Christopher Meek, Dr. Warner Woodworth Aug 2013

“Working To Put Food On The Table”: Fractured Identities And Mission Drift In A South African Nonprofit Organization, Eric C. Darsow, Dr. Christopher Meek, Dr. Warner Woodworth

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) face a tradeoff between activities which further their mission and those which generate revenue to pay salaries and bills. For many NPOs, management’s increasing attention to cash flow suppresses the organization’s service-oriented mission and alienates staff. This ORCA grant funded a case study of this phenomenon at RSEF, a small development NPO in South Africa. I use organizational identity theory to explore ways in which a loss of mission focus affects how staff identify with their work, and how decreased identification impacts the organization’s ability to serve society. By understanding the relationship between job commitment, organizational identification, …

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Small Business Development In Southern Africa, Nathan Feliz, Dr. Warner Woodworth Aug 2013

Small Business Development In Southern Africa, Nathan Feliz, Dr. Warner Woodworth

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The focus of my research was to observe the process of economic development at the grassroots level in Southern Africa. In Capetown, South Africa I found an organization that was working closely with marginalized youth in the townships and squatters camps. The Center For Opportunity Development (COD) works with youth, (ages 18-35), teaching business skills. The Center For Opportunity Development had just changed to a new approach of more practical learning when I joined with them. Instead of spending more time in the class room the thought was to get the students out working more. Each student would spend a …

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Leadership Training Center: A Resource For Guatemalan Returned Missionaries, Brian Melven, Don Adolphson Aug 2013

Leadership Training Center: A Resource For Guatemalan Returned Missionaries, Brian Melven, Don Adolphson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of my project was to develop a proposal to aide Guatemalan university students in finding fulfilling employment after university graduation. I specifically wanted to help LDS university students who attended the public university in Guatemala City. The proposal was based on my findings after a two-month visit to Guatemala City last summer.

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Mission Drifts In Microcredit: The Drift Away From The Poorest Of The Poor; And, The Drift From Providing Social Benefits, Jared Mabey, Dr. Warner Woodworth Aug 2013

Mission Drifts In Microcredit: The Drift Away From The Poorest Of The Poor; And, The Drift From Providing Social Benefits, Jared Mabey, Dr. Warner Woodworth

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This thesis shows that the microcredit movement=s fixation on reaching financial self-sustainability is causing microfinance institutions to cease to achieve important objectives, namely: 1) reaching the poorest of the poor, and 2) providing bank members with social benefits.

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Evaluating An Entrepreneurial Opportunity Through A Business Plan, Tyler L. Baldwin, Dr. Hal Heaton Aug 2013

Evaluating An Entrepreneurial Opportunity Through A Business Plan, Tyler L. Baldwin, Dr. Hal Heaton

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The American dream consists of having a nice home, a good job, and a family with 2.4 children. Many even dream of being the master of their own destiny by having a business of their own. Some people say all they need is a good idea to start a business. However, turning this kernel of thought from an idea into a reality is more difficult than most people realize. My creative research project consisted of evaluating an entrepreneurial opportunity of a crepery (a restaurant specializing in dinner and dessert crepes) and determining whether or not it could become a successful …

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Service Recovery In China And Russia, Wendy Gubler, Dr. Kristie Seawright Aug 2013

Service Recovery In China And Russia, Wendy Gubler, Dr. Kristie Seawright

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Service recovery is the process of turning disappointed customers into satisfied, loyal customers (Bell and Ridge, 1992). It is an integral part of service delivery design for service industries, where some failure is inevitable.

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Summation Of Orca Research, Blaine Johnson, Dr. Warner Woodworth Aug 2013

Summation Of Orca Research, Blaine Johnson, Dr. Warner Woodworth

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I proposed to develop a method of community development originating and sustained by those within the targeted developing communities. After formulating this methodology I anticipated the formation of a practical development advisory group on the campus of BYU that may lend assistance to emerging humanitarian organizations within these and other communities.

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Summary Of Research On Attachment Disorder In Romanian Orphanages, Kendra Driggs, Daniel Ferguson Aug 2013

Summary Of Research On Attachment Disorder In Romanian Orphanages, Kendra Driggs, Daniel Ferguson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Attachment is an enduring connection established between a child and caregiver in the first several years of life. During this sensitive period, attachment influences every component of the human condition, including, mind, body, emotions, relationship, and values. It has been observed that attachment is a physiological, emotional, cognitive and social phenomenon. Attachment is something that a child and caregiver create together. Attachment disorder results when children fail to develop normal, healthy, and secure attachments to loving, protective caregivers.

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Social Processes Of Organizational Formation, Scott Ashton, Dr. Teppo Felin Aug 2013

Social Processes Of Organizational Formation, Scott Ashton, Dr. Teppo Felin

Journal of Undergraduate Research

When I applied for an ORCA grant one year ago, the stated purpose of my study was to “design, develop, and write the code for an agent based computer simulation which will explicitly attempt to model the social processes by which nascent firms and their entrepreneurial founders are matched with workers to thereby create an organization.” Once the simulation was completed, I hoped to be able to publish the results in a joint publication with my faculty mentor. Of these two goals – first creating a simulation, and then publishing the results – I have successfully accomplished the first but …

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Repairing Workplace Relationships: The Salience Of Accounts And Circumstantial Moderators, Brian Reschke, Dr. Kristen B. Detienne Aug 2013

Repairing Workplace Relationships: The Salience Of Accounts And Circumstantial Moderators, Brian Reschke, Dr. Kristen B. Detienne

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Misunderstandings, breaches of trust, and unmet expectations are frequent in the workplace. Accounts, or explanations of behavior, are often deployed by alleged offenders to reshape others‟ attributions regarding conduct. In recent years, scholars have returned to the question of how rifts in workplace relationships are ameliorated through accounts such as apologies, excuses, and denials. This area is identified with the relationship repair research domain (Dirks, Lewicki, & Zaheer, 2009).

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Vocal Artifacts: A Video-Based Study Of The Appropriation And Articulation Of Material Objects Within Employment Interviews, Emily Warren, Dr. Lebaron Curtis Jun 2013

Vocal Artifacts: A Video-Based Study Of The Appropriation And Articulation Of Material Objects Within Employment Interviews, Emily Warren, Dr. Lebaron Curtis

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The goal of this project was to examine how material objects and texts (e.g., resumes, letters, application files, etc.) may be appropriated and articulated during employment interviews. While past research focused on the verbal and discursive features of employment interviews, using research methods such as content analysis, discourse analysis, and conversation analysis, this was a multimodal study that highlighted the pervasive but taken-for-granted material and embodied aspects of employment interviews that have been largely overlooked. Our research findings have contributed to the growing awareness and understanding of socio-materiality in organizations and organizational routines. This research was presented as the National …

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The Effect Of Relational Self-Construal In Dispute Resolutions And Negotiations, Aubri Robinson, Dr. Sheli Sillito Jun 2013

The Effect Of Relational Self-Construal In Dispute Resolutions And Negotiations, Aubri Robinson, Dr. Sheli Sillito

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of our research project was to determine the influence of managerial fairness in the context of dispute resolution and negotiation. We aimed to identify whether managers’ relational self-construal (RSC), whether they define themselves in terms of their close relationships with others, leads to more positive outcomes in social contexts, including higher fairness ratings from subordinates and higher self-perceived fairness. Through our studies, we explored potential moderators (e.g., context) and mediators (e.g., affect) of the RSC-fairness relationship within organizations and manager-employee relationships. Our findings expected to inform research on negotiation improvement and organizational fairness. Through our study of negotiations …

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The School Based Family: Coaches And Teachers As Parental Figures For Orphans And Vulnerable Children In Ugandan Schools, Dr. Stacy Taniguchi Apr 2013

The School Based Family: Coaches And Teachers As Parental Figures For Orphans And Vulnerable Children In Ugandan Schools, Dr. Stacy Taniguchi

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine the possible formation of surrogate families within Ugandan schools to potentially provide a context for positive development experiences, especially for orphans who lack positive development opportunities provided by parents. The sample for this study consisted of 66 Ugandan Secondary School students from eight schools the Mukono district of Uganda. In 1994, the United Nations declared families are the basic unit of society and require special attention (Bowen & McKechnie, 2001). However, the failure of the biological family is seen on a mass scale in Uganda due in large part to the …

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Location-Allocation Optimization Of Supply Chain Distribution Networks: A Case Study, Mark Nicholas Helberg Mar 2013

Location-Allocation Optimization Of Supply Chain Distribution Networks: A Case Study, Mark Nicholas Helberg

Theses and Dissertations

The location of distribution centers is an important strategic decision in supply chain design, particularly as it relates to service quality, productivity, and profitability of the firm. There has been extensive research performed on distribution location models which require the use of complex algorithms and assumptions that make use of these models difficult in practice for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have limited capital and resources. Studies have also failed to capture and quantify potential business results of using more sophisticated methods. In this study, a deterministic and static location-allocation model is designed using a prototype software tool. The …

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Perils And Profits: A Reexamination Of The Link Between Profitability And Safety In U.S. Aviation, Peter M. Madsen Jan 2013

Perils And Profits: A Reexamination Of The Link Between Profitability And Safety In U.S. Aviation, Peter M. Madsen

Faculty Publications

In many industries, for-profit business organizations make decisions that critically impact the safety of their employees and the public. Managers in such organizations often argue that there is no trade-off between profitability and safety because “safety is good business.” However, prior studies examining the profitability–safety relationship report inconsistent and conflicting results. In the present study, the author reexamines this issue, building on insights into managerial risk taking from the behavioral theory of the firm and hypothesizing that the slope of the profitability–safety relationship reaches an inflection point at the organizational profitability aspiration. Using data from the U.S. airline industry, the …

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Should My Spouse Be My Partner? Preliminary Evidence From The Panel Study Of Income Dynamics, W. Gibb Dyer, W. Justin Dyer, Richard G. Gardner Jan 2013

Should My Spouse Be My Partner? Preliminary Evidence From The Panel Study Of Income Dynamics, W. Gibb Dyer, W. Justin Dyer, Richard G. Gardner

Faculty Publications

This study examines how firm performance and family income are affected when an “owner-managed” firm transitions to a “copreneurial” business. Data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics were used to track changes in firm performance and family income from 1996 to 2006 during which time an owner-manager decided to partner with his spouse. The findings suggest that (a) involvement of one’s spouse in the business had no significant impact on firm profits and (b) working with one’s spouse had a significant impact on family income. The authors hypothesize that the lack of spousal influence on firm performance is because …

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How To Spot A Careerist Early On: Psychopathy And Exchange Ideology As Predictors Of Careerism, Dan S. Chiaburu, Gonzalo J. Munoz, Richard G. Gardner Jan 2013

How To Spot A Careerist Early On: Psychopathy And Exchange Ideology As Predictors Of Careerism, Dan S. Chiaburu, Gonzalo J. Munoz, Richard G. Gardner

Faculty Publications

Careerism refers to an individual’s propensity to achieve their personal and career goals through nonperformance- based activities (Feldman, The Indus Org Psychol 39–44, 1985). We investigated the role of several dispositional predictors of careerism, including Five-factor model (FFM) personality traits, primary psychopathy, and exchange ideology. Based on data from 131 respondents, as expected, we observed that emotional stability was negatively correlated with careerism. Primary psychopathy and exchange ideology explained additional variance in careerism after accounting for FFM traits. Relative importance analyses indicated that psychopathy (relative weight percentage of explained variance = 42.1 %) and exchange ideology (relative weight percentage = …

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History Of Accreditation: Coaprt Model, Marcia Jean Carter, Ramon Zabriskie, Lynn Anderson, Maridith Janssen Jan 2013

History Of Accreditation: Coaprt Model, Marcia Jean Carter, Ramon Zabriskie, Lynn Anderson, Maridith Janssen

Faculty Publications

Accreditation in therapeutic recreation began with undergraduate competencies identified in 1975 through the Council on Accreditation ( COA) sponsorship by the National Recreation and Park Association. This article chronicles the adjustments in these original standards. Accreditation criteria are at the heart of defining entry-level professional competencies in the profession of therapeutic recreation while also being used as quality indicators of academic programs. Therapeutic recreation was the first specialization recognized by the Council on Accreditation of Parks, Recreation, Tourism and Related Professions [(COAPRT) formerly COA] during the 1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, while undergoing enhancements and expansion, controversy arose over …

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The Impact Of Parental Involvement On A Structured Youth Program Experience: A Qualitative Inquiry, Mat D. Duerden, Peter A. Witt, Christopher J. Harrist Jan 2013

The Impact Of Parental Involvement On A Structured Youth Program Experience: A Qualitative Inquiry, Mat D. Duerden, Peter A. Witt, Christopher J. Harrist

Faculty Publications

Parental involvement is an often proposed, but rarely researched, key element of youth programs. Questions remain regarding the impact of parental involvement on program processes and outcomes. Qualitative data were collected over a one-year period with youth participants (n=46), parents (n=26), and teachers (n=5) associated with an international immersion/service learning program for adolescents. Three main research questions guided the data analysis: (1) what role does parental involvement play in the youths’ experience in the program; (2) how does parental involvement in the program influence the parent/child relationship; and (3) what role does parental involvement play in terms of the program’s …

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Urban American Indians: A Comparison Of Father Involvement Predictors Across Race, Jonathan Padilla, Peter Ward, Gordon E. Limb Jan 2013

Urban American Indians: A Comparison Of Father Involvement Predictors Across Race, Jonathan Padilla, Peter Ward, Gordon E. Limb

Faculty Publications

Father involvement in families of urban American Indians has been a neglected area of research. In this study, the authors examined the associations among parental relationship quality, father involvement, and coresidence. The authors conducted a multiple group analysis through structural equation modeling comparing 107 American Indian fathers with fathers of the general population in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Although the results were similar between groups, findings indicated two key differences for urban American Indians. First, emotional supportiveness had a stronger relationship with physically active engagement for American Indian fathers. Second, parental relationship quality had greater total standardized …

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Satisfaction With Family Life Scale, Ramon B. Zabriskie, Peter J. Ward Jan 2013

Satisfaction With Family Life Scale, Ramon B. Zabriskie, Peter J. Ward

Faculty Publications

We wanted to present validity and reliability data for the Satisfaction With Family Life (SWFL) scale. This instrument has been successfully used in a variety of family samples and offers a brief, widely applicable tool to measure satisfaction with family life. The SWFL scale, modeled after the Satisfaction With Life scale, was designed to assess an individual’s global judgment of family satisfaction, which is theoretically predicted to depend on a comparison of family life circumstances with one’s own standards and expectations. The scale consists of five items on a Likert-type scale. Data were collected from parents and adolescents in 15 …

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Looking Good By Doing Good: The Antecendents And Consequences Of Stakeholder Attention To Corporate Social Performance, Peter M. Madsen, Zachariah J. Rodgers Jan 2013

Looking Good By Doing Good: The Antecendents And Consequences Of Stakeholder Attention To Corporate Social Performance, Peter M. Madsen, Zachariah J. Rodgers

Faculty Publications

Stakeholder theory suggests a relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP) because certain stakeholders reward certain types of CSR. This argument assumes that stakeholders attend to firms’ CSR activities—an assumption that has yet to be examined. We fill this gap by extending stakeholder theory to the context of stakeholder attention to firm CSR and exploring the antecedents and consequences of stakeholder attention to corporate disaster relief CSR. We test the resulting hypotheses on a sample of public companies that engaged in natural disaster relief efforts, finding that stakeholder attention partially mediated the relationship between disaster relief …

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Making Standards Stick: A Theory Of Coupled Vs. Decoupled Compliance, Kurt Sandholtz May 2012

Making Standards Stick: A Theory Of Coupled Vs. Decoupled Compliance, Kurt Sandholtz

Faculty Publications

This paper presents an inductive account of how two divisions of the same corporation sought to standardize their engineering work. Although both groups achieved ISO 9000 certification, each was guided by historical antecedents and internal processes that left different legacies: a culture of cynicism and chaotic work practices in one division vis-a-vis a system of standardized work practices that are voluntarily (and often enthusiastically) followed in the other. The contrasting cases shed light on what happens when an external standard is adopted by an organization, converted into a formal directive, and then confronted by the norms and practices of an …

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“He’S A Real Dude”: Tributes To Tom Jones, Paul C. Godfrey, Bradley R. Agle Jan 2012

“He’S A Real Dude”: Tributes To Tom Jones, Paul C. Godfrey, Bradley R. Agle

Faculty Publications

Researchers often fail to honor luminaries in their fields of inquiry, at least while they are still alive. What follows is one such tribute, to Dr. Thomas M. Jones, the Boeing Company endowed professor in business management at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business. Business & Society represents an appropriate outlet for this tribute, given that Tom was the first editor of the journal when the International Association for Business and Society (IABS) assumed editorial control of the Sage Publications journal in 1993.

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Influences On Active Family Leisure And A Healthy Lifestyle Among Adolescents, Shallie M. Taylor, Peter Ward, Ramon Zabriskie, Brian Hill, Carl Hanson Jan 2012

Influences On Active Family Leisure And A Healthy Lifestyle Among Adolescents, Shallie M. Taylor, Peter Ward, Ramon Zabriskie, Brian Hill, Carl Hanson

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine how attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control influence adolescents’ intent to participate in active family leisure within the theory of plan behavior framework. Adolescents (N = 472) completed an online questionnaire about their perceptions and actual participation in active family leisure. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. A post-hoc analysis also considered individual leisure and its role on active family leisure. Attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control were significant predictors of intent to participate in active family leisure.

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Antecedents Of Identity Development In A Structured Recreation Setting: A Qualitative Inquiry, Mat D. Duerden, Stacy Taniguchi, Mark Widmer Jan 2012

Antecedents Of Identity Development In A Structured Recreation Setting: A Qualitative Inquiry, Mat D. Duerden, Stacy Taniguchi, Mark Widmer

Faculty Publications

Identity research has focused primarily on outcomes associated with identity formation. Far less attention, however, has been given to understanding the facilitating contextual elements of this process. This qualitative study examined a context, a 2-week adventure recreation program for youth, quantitatively shown in previous research to have promoted identity development. The program took place in Idaho’s Salmon-Challis National Forest and involved rafting, backpacking, mountain biking, and a variety of other outdoor activities. Data were gathered from 23 female and 22 male participants, ages 11 to 15 (M = 13.2, SD = .89). Seven distinct categories emerged from the analysis related …

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Assessing Program Implementation: What It Is, Why It's Important, And How To Do It, Mat D. Duerden, Peter A. Witt Jan 2012

Assessing Program Implementation: What It Is, Why It's Important, And How To Do It, Mat D. Duerden, Peter A. Witt

Faculty Publications

While the importance of evaluation program offerings is acknowledge by Extension educators, less emphasis is given to understanding program implementation. Simply assessing program impact without a clear understanding of the degree to which a program was actually implemented can result in inaccurate findings. The effective evaluation of both program impacts and evaluation can provide Extension educators with a more holistic perspective of their programs and an increased ability to identify and disseminate best program practices.

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Workforce Skill Development In Camps, Mat Duerden Jan 2012

Workforce Skill Development In Camps, Mat Duerden

Faculty Publications

For many young people, serving as a summer camp staff member can be an entry point into the labor market as well as a valuable job skill-building experience. These camp staff jobs can vary widely by title and expectations but often have one thing in common- the young staff member is often responsible for the safety and well-being of younger children often in their care 24 hours a day for weeks at a time. At a time when employers express concern regarding the workplace readiness of the emerging workforce (Jackson, 2010), camp-based employment, which includes a wide range of positions …

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