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Articles 511 - 540 of 1196

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

The Nonprofit Board Of Trustees: Maximizing Its Effectiveness In A Brave New World, Joe Mandato May 2002

The Nonprofit Board Of Trustees: Maximizing Its Effectiveness In A Brave New World, Joe Mandato

Student Scholarship

This is a study of the differing perspectives of business-oriented board members and a nonprofit CEO, providing insight into their relationships and into board governance practices. The study illuminates reasons why boards and CEOs find it difficult to fully use and leverage their joint skills. Nonprofit organizations are facing increased pressure and new challenges. They must contend with a shrinking resource base, greater competition for donor dollars and a donor market focused on the events of 9/11. Additionally, nonprofits are being asked to deliver more services, with fewer resources, to meet increased need. Adding to this mix is a generation …

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A Comparison Of The Network Strategies Of Successful Entrepreneurial And Professional Women, Barbara Mistick, Karie Willyerd May 2002

A Comparison Of The Network Strategies Of Successful Entrepreneurial And Professional Women, Barbara Mistick, Karie Willyerd

Student Scholarship

This research is part of a larger exploratory study of successful women and how they have developed and used their personal networks. Specifically in this paper, we are interested in understanding the differences between network composition and network strategies used by women entrepreneurs and women professionals. The focus herein is on the business/professional and social/friendship networks of successful women. We conceptualize that the personal network characteristics of women entrepreneurs are different from those of professional women and suggest that by understanding the similarities and difference in the their personal networks this study will assist women in developing practical, appropriate personalized …

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Performance And Commitment Of Practitioner/Volunteer Leader Partnerships, Donald Zeilstra May 2002

Performance And Commitment Of Practitioner/Volunteer Leader Partnerships, Donald Zeilstra

Student Scholarship

A comparative case study design was used to study the effects of practitioner and volunteer leader interactions on performance and commitment in six capital fundraising campaigns of nonprofit organizations. Variation was found among the cases in the extent to which the interaction of the pairs were characterized by reciprocal relationships, and the scope and intensity of their learning orientation. As a feasibility test, the proposal that this variation would be positively associated with differences in performance and commitment was supported. As an exploratory study, insights about potential causal relationships were gained which may be tested in future research.

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A Priest In Transition, Terry Brizz May 2002

A Priest In Transition, Terry Brizz

Student Scholarship

In the U.S Roman Catholic Church, there is a concern that incoming pastors are ill-prepared to manage parishes. In the past 40 years, the number of men entering the priesthood has dropped dramatically. In many dioceses across the country, this dwindling supply of priests has led to priests becoming pastors after only two or three years from ordination. With the declining number of priests, the traditional apprenticeship model for training priests to develop into pastors is becoming severely challenged. Historically, priests worked under the tutelage of a number of pastors (4 or 5) over a number of years (20 to …

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Exploring Office Space Synergy -- Under The Radar, Stephen Brand May 2002

Exploring Office Space Synergy -- Under The Radar, Stephen Brand

Student Scholarship

You can find literature that discusses organizational culture and it's impact on success in business and office environments. A number of scholars have looked at the relationship between measured space from desk to desk and employee satisfaction (Oldham et al. (1991), and Keller (1986). Some have looked at the impact cubicles have had on the productivity of office workers. Throughout the last century, office design experts and consultants have recommended a wide range of ever-changing spatial schemes designed to increase the productivity of employees and minimize wasted time and informal dialogue. This ethnographic view of what goes on in office …

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Large Fries, Two Apples Pies: Rotational Leadership - An Ethnographic Investigation Into The Assimilation Of Corporate Values, A. Damos Solaru May 2002

Large Fries, Two Apples Pies: Rotational Leadership - An Ethnographic Investigation Into The Assimilation Of Corporate Values, A. Damos Solaru

Student Scholarship

The Problem: State and Federal welfare reform programs have had the effect of increasing the size of the work force by reducing the availability of benefits available to the long-term unemployed. Coming at a time when unemployment fell to record low levels, all new entrants to the work force were greeted with a large array of opportunities. For the previously unemployed welfare recipient, the experience of moving into the work force has not been easy. Unlike better-educated new entrants into the work force, former welfare recipients have lived in a society essentially outside of the mainstream. By developing outside of …

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Newtown Stationary: Getting Communities Back Into The Economic Development Game, Charles T. Moses May 2002

Newtown Stationary: Getting Communities Back Into The Economic Development Game, Charles T. Moses

Student Scholarship

Today's inner cities can be places in which entrepreneurs, availing themselves of vertical and horizontal networks of business and community interests, can prosper. Government interventions such as the empowerment zone initiatives have generally not been successful in developing the indigenous entrepreneurial base in the inner city. Using the case of a single entrepreneur, this study explores alternative networking, inner city economics and the problem of failed statist policies as regards inner city economic development. It continues existing work aimed at deconstructing narratives that hold that inner cities lack effective reciprocal networks that would aid in economic development and details the …

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See Jane And Samantha Lead: An Ethnography Of A Chair/Chief Executive Pair In A Nonprofit Organization, J. Bart Morrison May 2002

See Jane And Samantha Lead: An Ethnography Of A Chair/Chief Executive Pair In A Nonprofit Organization, J. Bart Morrison

Student Scholarship

This ethnography is about how nonprofit governance was achieved at one particular nonprofit agency, but it is not a how-to report or a report that explains specific factors that influence the effectiveness of nonprofit boards. Much of the conventional literature on the subject of nonprofit governance presents expert-based prescriptions of best practices. In contrast, this report is a rich description drawn from the social contruction of reality paradigm and derived from direct, intimate interaction over an extended period in a single organization. A basic narrative of the protagonists' experiences presented from their perspective provides a framework for multi-layered analysis. On …

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Study Of Direct Internet Selling By Airlines In The U.S. Air Travel Distribution Industry, Sowmyan Raman May 2002

Study Of Direct Internet Selling By Airlines In The U.S. Air Travel Distribution Industry, Sowmyan Raman

Student Scholarship

The U.S. airline industry plays a very vital role in the national economy and defense. Even though the demand in this industry has been doubling every 8 to 10 years, the airline industry as a whole has seldom made any serious money during regulated or deregulated era. There is a strong downward trend in fare levels and airline yield. The downward pressure on yields makes cost reduction a major priority for all airlines. In the short and medium terms, equipment and fuel costs are beyond their control. Their inability to control the labor costs has pushed the airlines to focus …

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"Like Visions In My Head: Understanding The Formulation Of Student Perceptions Of The Value Of The Liberal Arts Experience, And The Impact Of This Process On College Choice, Margaret L. Drugovich May 2002

"Like Visions In My Head: Understanding The Formulation Of Student Perceptions Of The Value Of The Liberal Arts Experience, And The Impact Of This Process On College Choice, Margaret L. Drugovich

Student Scholarship

Tuition-dependent, private postsecondary institutions need a continuous and predictable stream of students to assure their fiscal viability. Liberal arts colleges, like all postsecondary education institutions, are vying for student s in an increasingly competitive marketplace. As premium price leaders, many liberal arts institutions have been forced to make deep cuts to their 'sticker price' in the form of tuition discounts in order to compete with one another as well as with state institutions that increasingly espouse their ability to simulate the small college experience. However, discounting, though perhaps popular and even necessary, cannot be a long-term solution. According to Lovett, …

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The Connected Celebrity And Nonprofit Advertising, Robert T. Wheeler May 2002

The Connected Celebrity And Nonprofit Advertising, Robert T. Wheeler

Student Scholarship

This study draws on two different inquiry methologies to explore the issue of advertising effectiveness of celebrity endorsers in a nonprofit setting. In Chapter 2 the author develops a framework that incorporates connection (congruence), source credibility, involvement, and gender as key elements in understanding the connection between celebrity endorsers and nonprofit organizations, and its impact on advertising effectiveness. In a controlled experiment the proposed model is tested using data collected in 12 sessions at two west coast universities (N=398). The results of this quantitative study support the principal model that posits a realtionship between connection, source credibility, and intention to …

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The "Shop" Around The Corner: How Do Leadership Attitudes Effect An Organization? An Ethnographic Study, Barbara Clemenson May 2002

The "Shop" Around The Corner: How Do Leadership Attitudes Effect An Organization? An Ethnographic Study, Barbara Clemenson

Student Scholarship

Nonprofit leaders are frequently passionate about their organizations, many having devoted their lives and sacrificed significant material benefits for the sake of their causes. Often, though, this intense devotion unconsciously engenders an attitude of ownership towards their organizations (“This is my cause,” “I know best,” “No one else could possibly care/know/do as much as I do.”), rather than an attitude of stewardship (“We must welcome the best and all work in partnership together to address this great cause, and see that it continues addressing this need long after we are gone.”). This ethnographic study examined one nonprofit organization that espoused …

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Putting Socks On An Octopus: A Qualitative Understanding Of The Transformation To Customer Relationship Management, Patricia A. Sahm May 2002

Putting Socks On An Octopus: A Qualitative Understanding Of The Transformation To Customer Relationship Management, Patricia A. Sahm

Student Scholarship

The art of business underwent an upheaval in the last decade as new technologies met better-informed customers. One response to this new business environment can be seen in a recent repositioning from business models focused on products to ones based in customer centric actions. By the mid-1990s, this thinking led to the concept of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and to the explosive growth of CRM software and consulting services providers. After six to eight years of CRM implementations the results remain mixed with about 60-70% considered failures. What went wrong and how can it go right? Practitioners of CRM, whether …

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Strangers In The Commons: Collective Action In Aging Policy, R. Robertson Hilton May 2002

Strangers In The Commons: Collective Action In Aging Policy, R. Robertson Hilton

Student Scholarship

This paper illuminates the urgent discourse on the future of long-term care for needy seniors. The aging of the “boomers” and the prospect of budget deficits animate this discourse. Little research has focused on this discourse since the end of the prosperity of the 1990’s. During the first three months of 2003, I studied a formally organized group of recognized leaders of the non-profit long-term care community of Northeast Ohio. My methodology enabled me to discern through an inductive process the underlying influences that drive collective action for new aging policy. These influences emerge despite the notable lack of a …

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The Impact Of Emotional Intelligence On Work Team Cohesiveness And Performance, Brigette Ann Rapisarda May 2002

The Impact Of Emotional Intelligence On Work Team Cohesiveness And Performance, Brigette Ann Rapisarda

Student Scholarship

Teams have become an increasingly critical element in work. The capability of team members' to work with each other will affect the cohesiveness and performance of the team. The sample consisted of 18 study groups within the Executive Masters of Business Administration (EMBA) program at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. The emotional intelligence demonstrated by each person was assessed through questionnaires completed in a 360-degree format by the students during their EMBA program. Members of each study group as well as multiple faculty members rated each group's cohesiveness and performance. The frequency of interaction was …

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World Class Manufacturing Best Practices; Do They Play In Peoria? An Ethnographic Study Of A Locally Based Production Facility, Michael R. Lopez Apr 2002

World Class Manufacturing Best Practices; Do They Play In Peoria? An Ethnographic Study Of A Locally Based Production Facility, Michael R. Lopez

Student Scholarship

Invoking the term “best practices” often conjures up the notion of a historically contingent body of regularized routines that are condoned by a particular community. As a whole, they can be viewed as being made up of rules and procedures that construct and legitimatize the way certain people see things and how they talk about them. As a natural consequence, these practices make possible certain statements and communication processes while inhibiting others. The subsequent discourse not only delimits what can be said, it also empowers some to speak authoritatively on the topic in question. In many respects, those perceived to …

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Sitting On Top Of The World; An Ethnography Of Elite Flyers Improving Service Recovery Cost - Effectiveness In A World Of Air Traffic Delays, Leonard Lane Aug 2001

Sitting On Top Of The World; An Ethnography Of Elite Flyers Improving Service Recovery Cost - Effectiveness In A World Of Air Traffic Delays, Leonard Lane

Student Scholarship

The question this study set out to answer was: what are the drivers of customer satisfaction and loyalty for “elite” airline flyers, in face of the unprecedented decline over the last three years (as indicated by the number of flight delays and cancellations) in the most tangible aspects of customer service. I asked this question because I wanted to find out how the flyer’s sense of elitism and loyaltytotheairlinecouldbemaintainedinthefaceofterribleservicedeliveredbytheairlines. This knowledge would be important for airlines to know inasmuch as this elite group is a major segment of the 2% of an airline’s passengers that contribute 70% of the airline’s …

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Lessons In Ethical Capital Asset Management: The Challenges Of A Local School Board, Susan Mctiernan Jul 2001

Lessons In Ethical Capital Asset Management: The Challenges Of A Local School Board, Susan Mctiernan

Student Scholarship

The work presented here actually had its genesis in the fall of 2000 when I began regular observations of the local school board as it attempted to resolve a major conflict that involved not just the board, but a variety of its stakeholder groups. My interest in this board's dilemma was informed by previous personal service on various boards and the challenges that were faced by my colleagues and me in dealing with various stakeholders. I sought to sort out questions associated with the involvement of stakeholders and the board and to answer those that went to whether there was …

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Ten Thin Slices: A Study Of Customer Satisfaction In Retail Business Transactions Wherein Service Providers And Customers Have Different Primary Languages, C. Fritz Reichert Jul 2001

Ten Thin Slices: A Study Of Customer Satisfaction In Retail Business Transactions Wherein Service Providers And Customers Have Different Primary Languages, C. Fritz Reichert

Student Scholarship

This paper addresses the effect on customer service satisfaction of primary language differences between service personnel and customers in retail store environments. This study was conducted using ethnographic research methods in five different retail store environments where service personnel were Spanish-speaking and customers English- speaking. The results of the study suggest that primary language differences in the service dyad can result in impaired service and customer dissatisfaction. The results of the study also indicate that store management can control some factors to increase customer satisfaction.

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A Smile And A Handshake Are Not Enough: Moving Toward The Need, Patricia J. Mintz Jul 2001

A Smile And A Handshake Are Not Enough: Moving Toward The Need, Patricia J. Mintz

Student Scholarship

As an undergraduate in 1966, I studied the Fortran and Cobol programming languages on a mainframe computer. At that time, I could not have predicted the personal computer on the desktop. In 1982, we took the plunge and bought an Apple IIe personal computer for use in our home and for the development of my mathematics teaching materials. I was amazed by the power and ability of 64K of memory in that first Apple computer. Over the past eighteen years, the development of powerful personal computers has changed the daily lives of many people in their home and in their …

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Workforce Development In A Small Manufacturing Organization, Agustin V. Arbuluc Jul 2001

Workforce Development In A Small Manufacturing Organization, Agustin V. Arbuluc

Student Scholarship

This applied research project focused on workforce development in a small manufacturing organization. Specifically, this study offers a CEO perspective regarding the work environment or setting in contributing to worker attitudes toward acquiring skills and knowledge, commitment to the organization, and performance of hard-to-pace workers. The conceptual framework that underpins this inquiry draws on the concept of communities of practice as development by Etienne Wenger and the theory of situated learning by Jean Lave as applied to learning and communication in the workplace. The study offers insight into limitations on workforce development and the role of the relationships and race …

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The Strength Of Strong Ties: The Role Of Integrity In Efficiency, Gregory Milzcik May 2001

The Strength Of Strong Ties: The Role Of Integrity In Efficiency, Gregory Milzcik

Student Scholarship

The New York Stock Exchange founded in 1792 is the largest and busiest market the world has ever seen. More than 3,000 companies with a capitalization of more than $12 trillion dollars are represented by the New York Stock Exchange. Half, or nearly $6 trillion dollars, represent 400 foreign companies from around the globe. On average more than one billion - shares worth over $40 billion dollars - change hands everyday (NYSE, handout). Investments in the U.S. stock markets have grown significantly over the past decade. Along with this growth has come a diversification of investors, investment tools and corresponding …

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In Area 10 Overload: The Great Vacation-Less Class: Cooperation And Coping Strategies Of Women Entrepreneurs, Barbara K. Mistick May 2001

In Area 10 Overload: The Great Vacation-Less Class: Cooperation And Coping Strategies Of Women Entrepreneurs, Barbara K. Mistick

Student Scholarship

An ethnography of how women entrepreneurs with multiple responsibilities manage their time at home. Introducing the belief that by engaging in the "juggler ethic" women entrepreneurs are able to manipulate activities to provide for more engagement in family life. This study aims to create a better understanding of how women entrepreneurs enlist the efforts of others and mobilize resources toward family needs, with an enumeration of some of their strategies for consideration by other women in similar circumstances.

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Learning Together: Volunteer/Practitioner Interactions In Effective Communities Of Fundraising Practice, Donald Zeilstra May 2001

Learning Together: Volunteer/Practitioner Interactions In Effective Communities Of Fundraising Practice, Donald Zeilstra

Student Scholarship

Observations of the dynamic interactions of high level volunteers and fundraising practitioners are interpreted as an extended learning process. Two major themes are developed: the actors are involved in reciprocal learning relationships, and learning is stimulated and encouraged by a wide range of behaviors and activities. A conceptual model is developed from the theoretical bases of collective action and situated learning to guide and present this interpretation. Each of the themes of the interpretation is explored for practical implications. Finally, implications for theory are discussed, and a direction for further research is indicated.

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More Than Directing Money: Theories In Use For Helping Distressed Communities As Practiced By Independent Foundations, Sally Austen Tom May 2001

More Than Directing Money: Theories In Use For Helping Distressed Communities As Practiced By Independent Foundations, Sally Austen Tom

Student Scholarship

This research began with the two premises. The first is that stronger, healthier, more vibrant communities more effectively support pregnant women, their infants and the families. The second premise is that private independent foundations in the United States are engaged in a multitude of activities designed to help distressed communities and have significant tacit knowledge about how to do this work. I reviewed the literature on the concept of theories in use and discovered that the literature asserted that they exist and that they can be found through a dialogical interview process. I posited that discourse analysis of categories of …

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A Study Of The Impact Of Ohio's Instructional Support Funding Process On Institutional Behavior At Two-Year Colleges, Morries W. Beverage Jr. May 2001

A Study Of The Impact Of Ohio's Instructional Support Funding Process On Institutional Behavior At Two-Year Colleges, Morries W. Beverage Jr.

Student Scholarship

This study examines the impact that Ohio's higher education instructional support funding process has on decision-making at two-year colleges. In Ohio, instructional support subsidizes credit (degree-eligible) but not non-credit instruction. The study methodology included six colleges selected on the basis of how active or inactive they were in the provision of job-related non-credit training against their predicted activity. The colleges selected represent the three relatively most and least active institutions. Interviews were conducted at the six colleges with the President, Chief Academic Officer, Chief Fiscal Officer and Chief Non-Credit Instruction Officer. The study found evidence of influence from the instructional …

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The Contribution And Status Of Women Inside Directors In Fortune 1000 Companies, Deborah Dahlen Zelechowski May 2001

The Contribution And Status Of Women Inside Directors In Fortune 1000 Companies, Deborah Dahlen Zelechowski

Student Scholarship

My interest in women and corporate boards evolved from a general desire for more information on boards. Being the most senior woman executive in an educations institution, there appeared to be no senior individuals available to assume a role on our board and to illustrate the possible role women executives could play. During my initial research it became obvious there were very few senior women executives who had ascended to positions on their organization's corporate board. there was also very little known about women inside directors, giving me a tremendous opportunity to begin to answer numerous questions. My grand tour …

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Toward A Theory Of Technological Change, John Rodney Franklin Nov 2000

Toward A Theory Of Technological Change, John Rodney Franklin

Student Scholarship

Theories of technological change are generally constructed based on assumptions that the technological artifact is a member of a historical line of technological advance (trajectory and evolutionary theories) or that novel technological developments simply "happen" (happenstance theories). Where a more constructivist view is taken technological change is assumed to be a social construct driven by the societal elements of human relationships and initiative. This paper takes a different approach to technological change positing that a combination of social structure and human agency act in a recursive manner to push a technological artifact forward. Using Anthony Giddens' structuration theory as the …

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Theoretical Aspects Of The Japanese Institutional Relations Model And Its Effectiveness For Corporate Governance In The Context Of Globalization, Shigeo Kagami May 2000

Theoretical Aspects Of The Japanese Institutional Relations Model And Its Effectiveness For Corporate Governance In The Context Of Globalization, Shigeo Kagami

Student Scholarship

Corporations are organized differently from country to country in terms of their management structures, stakeholder power, and nature of corporate control. For the past decade, policymakers, business leaders, institutional investors, and scholars have debated differences among these structures and their implications for corporate competitiveness. Increased global integration of economic activities has heightened awareness of these cross-country differences in the structures of corporate governance and financial markets. The Keiretsu system, which means the long-term relationships between parent companies and subsidiaries or affiliated firms, or historic linkage between companies, is the "core" of the Japanese corporate governance model. On one hand, Keiretsu …

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Money And Theology -- It's Not An Oxymoron, Valerie Kay Brown May 2000

Money And Theology -- It's Not An Oxymoron, Valerie Kay Brown

Student Scholarship

The premise of this research is that the lack of connecting church financial management principles to a biblical foundation is a primary cause for the lack of clergy and church leaders following effective financial management practices within a church setting. This research explored this hypothesis by teaching two church financial courses; one with heavy emphasis on the biblical foundation for financial and administrative management, and one that is secular in approach. This study will compare the experiences of teaching each course with the premise that the scripturally-based course will have a positive impact on the students' attitude toward church financial …

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