Training and Development Commons^™

The Invisible Work: On Expertise, Showmanship, And The Trust That Makes Surgery Work, Anish Gupta D.D.S.

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This commentary examines how clinicians can make their expertise more visible to patients through communication, education, and clinical narration. Drawing parallels to surgical checklists and professional mastery, the author argues that trust is built not only through excellent outcomes but also through helping patients understand the complexity and judgment behind treatment. The article emphasizes communication, transparency, education, and mentorship as important elements of patient-centered care.

Design Thinking For Corporate Social Responsibility Program Proposal Creation, Michelle "Mindy" D. Danovaro

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study used action research to explore how the use of design thinking engaged employees in the creation of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program proposal in a small- to medium-enterprises (SME) in the Sacramento region of California. The purpose of the study was to assess whether employee participation in a design thinking exercise could improve employee perception of engagement, inclusion, and reciprocity during the CSR program proposal creation. The study was grounded in social exchange theory, stakeholder theory, and design thinking methodologies. The iterative research process followed action research cycles (i.e., plan, act, observe, and reflect) integrated with …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Relational Realities Of Readiness: What Managers Wish Colleges Knew About Business Communication, Karen Mccullough, Laura N. Miller

Applied Business Faculty Publications

This grounded theory study, informed by Communication Accommodation Theory, explores how frontline managers (n = 11) support early-career employees’ communication development. Findings identify three support strategies—structured scaffolding, adaptive leadership, and onboarding for cultural fit—and suggest colleges emphasize verbal and intercultural communication, applied learning, and professional presence. These insights reframe communication readiness as a relational process shaped by emotion, power, and organizational norms. The study calls for stronger collaboration between higher education and employers.

Ua21 What's New, Wku Institutional Equity

WKU Administration Documents

Newsletter created by and about the Office of Institutional Equity.

• Demir, Ena. A Message from the Executive Director
• Training Opportunities: Stay Informed & Engaged
• Understanding Title VI
• Student Accessibility Center Joins the Office of Institutional Equity
• Need Workplace Accommodations?
• Web Accessibility Regulations
• Relevant Information
• Stop Campus Hazing Act
• Meet the Team

The Career Breaking Point: Mid-Career Women’S Perceptions Of Organizational Communication And Their Career Disruptions, Laura Nicole Miller, Karen Mccullough

Applied Business Faculty Publications

When women in leadership experience career disruptions, they and their organizations lose. Companies forfeit experienced, mission-aligned talent, while women face instability and professional setbacks. This qualitative study offers a diagnostic foundation for understanding how organizational communication contributes to these disruptions. Guided by the cultural approach to organizations and using a constructivist grounded theory methodology, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with 14 mid-career women who experienced career interruptions. Findings identify three interrelated communication-related factors: mission-driven overwork, gaslighting, and value incongruence. Rather than prescribing solutions, the study centers on women’s lived experiences to highlight the communication patterns they perceive as harmful. …

The Digital Incorporated Worker Narrative: A Mixed Methods Study Of Digital Capital, Work Selection, And Outcomes In The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Tracie King

Dissertations

Digital technology permeates society and industry, making digital-ready workers necessary for firms of all sizes as a firm seeks competitiveness in the market (Bergson-Shilcock et al., 2023; de Ruyter et al., 2018; Gorski et al., 2022; Karaboğa, 2023; Kim et al., 2017; Qureshi Zia, 2019). Firms seeking digital-ready workers face a complex digital divide that creates a worker shortage (Bergson-Shilcock et al., 2023; Karaboğa, 2023; Qureshi Zia, 2019). This study aims to describe workers' work selection, work experience, and outcomes in a complex digital society.

Most digital divide research focuses on the individuals excluded from owning, accessing, and having skills …

A Qualitative Study Exploring Senior Leaders’ Experiences And Perceptions In Addressing Workplace Sexual Harassment In The U.S. Federal Government: A Systems Perspective, Karen Jane Dean

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sexual harassment (SH) is a prevalent, costly, and often unreported problem in the U.S. Federal Government. Despite decades of research from multiple perspectives and recommendations to address SH, the problem persists and remains complex. While some researchers and U.S. Government agencies have called upon leaders to commit to eliminating workplace SH, others have suggested using an integrated conflict management system (ICMS) to manage the complexity, nuances, and conflicts. Even though there is a call for leadership to address SH, there is limited documentation in the literature about leaders’ experiences and perceptions in addressing the problem. Therefore, this qualitative study was …

Bridging The Gap: Management Vs. Leadership And The Path To Mastering Both, Wesley A. Key

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Management and leadership, though often conflated, represent distinct but complementary skills that are critical for organizational success. This thesis aims to explore the fundamental differences between management and leadership, highlighting how these roles interact and the necessity for individuals to master both to excel in today’s dynamic business environment. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from psychology, organizational behavior, and case studies, this research synthesizes academic literature to address key questions: What core competencies distinguish leaders from managers? How do these competencies align or conflict with one another in real-world settings? And what practical steps can individuals take to develop proficiency in …

The Leadership Identity Presented On Linkedin, Carl L. Tolbert

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

LinkedIn has evolved in a way similar to other social media platforms but is unique in that it focuses on professional networking and careers. Many professionals seek to showcase their leadership skills and philosophies as part of a publicly showcased online persona. This paper aimed to examine the posts specific to leadership and thematically investigate presentation strategies, motivation, and purposes behind the posts. The paper begins with a historical review from the inception of LinkedIn through pivotal milestones in the history of the company. Key concepts from the literature are then reviewed specific to social media use and motivations behind …

The “Hate Wall” Project To Eradicate And Dismantle Discrimination In Higher Education: Lessons Learned From The Well-Intended Initiative Gone Awry!, Bahaudin G. Mujtaba

Learning and Educational Center Virtual Teaching and Learning Conference

Deeply rooted prejudices and hatred of others based on people’s ethnic backgrounds, disabilities, or religious affiliations are realities of every society. To allow students, faculty, and staff on campus to de-stress by metaphorically destroying experienced hate, the Diversity Student Council of Nova Southeastern University built a “Hate Wall” so everyone can write negative biases they have heard to then dismantle it physically and symbolically. During the day, people wrote comments on the wall, and some were antisemitic regarding the Jewish community. Within a few hours, it turned into a publicity failure while deeply stressing many.

This case study discusses what …

Ua21 What's New, Wku Institutional Equity

WKU Administration Documents

Newsletter created by and about WKU Institutional Equity.

• Title IX Updates
• Americans with Disabilities Act Updates
• New Web Accessibility Regulations
• Pregnancy/Parenting Fairness Act
• Need Supportive Services?
• Meet the Team

A Phenomenological Study On The Perceived Impact Of Bass's Four I'S Of Transformational Leadership, Yarissa Marn

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify and describe World of Warcraft game leaders’ perceptions of the impact on their guilds regarding Bass’s 4 I’s of transformational leadership.

Methodology: This qualitative study interviewed 13 World of Warcraft game leaders who have led their guild members for at least one year. The main source of data collection was semi-structured open-ended interview questions with other resources to include artifacts. The researcher coded and analyzed data for themes and patterns.

Findings: Several domains of Bass’s Four I’s Transformational Leadership framework were found to have an impact on World of Warcraft …

What To Expect When Preparing To Transition For Working Abroad: Exploring Work-Focused Intercultural Transition Training, Hannah Johnson

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Despite living in a highly globalized world with increased travels, interactions, and migrations across both physical and mental cultural lines, many individuals are still often unprepared to interact with those who are different successfully (Kupka et al., 2008). With all these increases in travel, interaction, and migrations across cultural lines, it is essential to understand the adjustment process and the potential challenges or barriers that individuals may face when transitioning to a new culture. This project systematically examines literature on intercultural transitions to improve training for individuals traveling to another culture for work. The literature examined includes pre-departure training and …

Mental Health In College Journalists: Recognizing Causes Of Trauma And Recommendations For Training In College Programs, Sydney R. Mulvenon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

News reporting serves as an important vehicle for sharing breaking news across diverse communities, yet it often entails significant stressors. Some news reporters may experience trauma while covering challenging stories or navigating negative experiences within the newsroom. Many professionals in journalism have expressed concerns about the lack of awareness of mental health in the field. Addressing this need, this research using a documentary format, explores the need for integrating trauma training and awareness initiative into college-level journalism programs. Drawing on stories from former journalists and other professionals connected to journalism, this documentary highlights the pressing need for trauma-focused coursework to …

Harnessing The Power Of Cliftonstrengths®: How Multinational Corporations Can Use Deep-Level Diversity To Enhance Organizational Inclusion, Trapper Kay Pace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research explicitly investigated how multinational corporations can enhance workplace inclusion through the novel use of the CliftonStrengths® assessment as a dimension of deep-level diversity. The study gleaned insights from employees’ perspectives, employing a constructivist grounded theory approach to explicate their experiences in rich qualitative narratives. Through open-ended surveys and intensive interviews, participants were selected using purposeful sampling to ensure meaningful data collection from the study organizations’ three global regions. The researcher conducted the analysis systematically through the constant comparison of data utilizing the NVivo14 software to assist in constructing codes, themes, and a theoretical schema. Results highlighted the significance …

Empowering Voices: Exploring The Career Trajectories Of Women Of Color Hr Professionals Amid Disruptive Change, Brandi R. Muñoz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated strategies to enhance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives in organizational leadership, focusing on supporting women of color in the workplace. The specific problem addressed was the underrepresentation and barriers faced by women of color in leadership positions despite their potential contributions to organizational success. The study employed a qualitative approach, combining qualitative interviews with socioeconomic data analysis. Data collection methods included semistructured interviews with women of color and a survey to gather demographic and employment information. The sample consisted of 16 women of color human resource professionals working in various industries and organizational settings across the …

How Coaching Interactions Transform Leader Identity Of Young Professionals Over Time, Andy Hughes, Christian Vaccaro

Garthwait Leadership Center

This longitudinal qualitative study explores how social interactions between young professionals and their leadership coach develop leader identity. Examining eleven pairs of coaches and clients participating in a three-to-six-month leadership development programme, this exploratory research found five general interaction types that form the basis of leader identity development. We explain how coaching interaction types are combined to create a powerful adult learning process for navigating leadership transitions in an original leader identity transformation framework. The findings expand the understanding of coaching processes and leader identity transformation, providing insights for researchers and practitioners to help young professionals navigate leadership.

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Smells Like Team Spirit: How To Foster Psychological Safety And Enhance Team Creativity, Shannon S. Burrows

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Creativity is one of the most sought-after skills of the 21^st century, yet team members may be reticent to contribute to creative problem-solving out of fear of ridicule, retribution, or because of rigid hierarchical team structures. However, psychological safety is the underpinning of creativity; without it a culture of silence prevails, mistakes go unreported, and team creativity languishes. But how do leaders cultivate psychological safety in their teams? This project seeks to answer that question. Although the term “psychological safety” has become common in the corporate lexicon, misconceptions abound. Through the creation of a short, animated video, this project …

Cross-Cultural Managerial Behavior – A Comparative Study Between The Republic Of Korea And The United States Of America, Colson Richter

Senior Honors Theses

Among the many trade partners the United States engages with, the Republic of Korea is the nation’s seventh largest trading partner – exchanging over $154.9 Billion in 2020 (USTR, 2021). Despite this strong economic relationship between these two nations, the cultural distance that these societies have is one of the largest within anthropological academia (Hofstede, 2017). This reality creates the need for a solid framework of a management-focused, cultural understanding between these two countries.

In this study, academic literature will be collected and reviewed to lend insight into particular areas of culture that an American and Korean perspective would be …

Chatgpt As Metamorphosis Designer For The Future Of Artificial Intelligence (Ai): A Conceptual Investigation, Amarjit Kumar Singh (Library Assistant), Dr. Pankaj Mathur (Deputy Librarian)

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to explore ChatGPT’s potential as an innovative designer tool for the future development of artificial intelligence. Specifically, this conceptual investigation aims to analyze ChatGPT’s capabilities as a tool for designing and developing near about human intelligent systems for futuristic used and developed in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Also with the helps of this paper, researchers are analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of ChatGPT as a tool, and identify possible areas for improvement in its development and implementation. This investigation focused on the various features and functions of ChatGPT that …

Swipe Right Into A Disciplinary Hearing: How The Use Of Dating Apps Could Earn An Attorney More Than A Bad First Date, Zachary S. Aman

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct seek to police the conduct of attorneys. Each jurisdiction adopts its own rules of professional conduct to apply to the attorneys licensed within it. Notably, the model rules prohibit any sexual relationship between the attorney and client unless that relationship precedes the attorney-client relationship. Traditionally, defining a "sexual relationship" was simple, particularly if the attorney and client engaged in sexual intercourse. The introduction of dating apps, however, has blurred the line.

This article outlines the inherent risks of attorneys using dating apps at a time when most newly-licensed attorneys make up the majority of …

Emotional Intelligence Training And Professional Salespeople, Tracey Honeycutt Sigler, Charles D. Shepherd Ph.D

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Emotional intelligence (EI) has long been considered a significant success factor, especcially in careers like personal selling that involve considerable social. contact (Goldman, 1995). As a result, a series of studies have investigated the link between EI and sales performance. The results of these studies indicates that EI can positively impact sales performanace. As a result, researchers (Deeter-Schmelz & Sojka, 2003) have called for its integration into sales training programs. However, to this point, no research has established an effective approach to EI training in sales. This study begins to rectify that shortcoming by indentifying best practices in general EI …

Help Or Hindrance: How Social Media Affects The Selection And Hiring Processes Of Businesses, Alexandra Krska

Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

Continually, young people have been advised to be conscientious of the imagery they put on social media regarding their personal lives in preparation for employment selection. However, the use of social media in the selection process may cause Human Resource professionals to have inadvertent biases toward candidates among other moral and ethical issues. Through extensive research of the thoughts and actions of a plethora of different corporate professionals, I will analyze whether using social media as a tool in the selection process authentically produces positive unbiased results, or whether social media poses more ethical issues. With the hopes to create …

Instructional Designers Conducting Professional Learning Using Social Media: A Phenomenological Study Of Their Experiences Through A Self-Regulated Learning Lens, Pauline S. Muljana

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Because the instructional design and technology field is dynamic (Sharif & Cho, 2015; Wang et al., 2021), instructional designers need to pursue continuous, just-in-time professional learning (Carliner, 2018) to improve knowledge, skills, and abilities (Sharif & Cho, 2015; Ritzhaupt & Martin, 2015), without being constrained by location, budget, and time (Muljana et al., 2020; Muljana et al., 2021). On the one hand, the omnipresent social media technologies offer affordances for facilitating this type of professional learning. Such technologies allow instructional designers to reach out to colleagues, search for ready-to-implement strategies, and find relevant, timely information. On the other hand, conducting …

Staff Matters: More Tips For Hiring And Developing A Great Staff, Jodi Schafer Sphr, Shrm-Scp

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Addressing the challenge of hiring staff in the current job market, this Staff Matters column provides insights for dental practices. With a focus on creating an attractive work culture, the article suggests developing partnerships with educational institutions and emphasizes the importance of continuous learning opportunities. The author encourages practices to define key skills, establish clear expectations, and implement training processes for effective communication, conflict resolution, and teamwork. Emphasizing the role of ongoing coaching and mentoring, the column outlines the necessity of investing in training and development to build a skilled and cohesive dental team.

Lower The Risk For Medical Emergencies, Christopher J. Smiley Dds

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Clinicians focus on health and safety for our patients. The editorial highlights the importance of cultural competence in dentistry to mitigate the risk of medical emergencies. Reflecting on a recent CE program, Dr. Smiley underscores the need for proactive emergency preparedness, emphasizing detailed protocols and hands-on training. The article advocates for thorough patient screening, incorporating three questions presented by Dr. Mitchel Gardiner in an article in this month’s issue, addressing patient-specific health considerations and consulting with healthcare providers. The editorial concludes by stressing the significance of risk reduction through comprehensive assessments, team training, and preparedness.

Improving Networking Supports For Women In The Workplace, Karen E. Pennesi, Javier Alvarez Vandeputte, Zsofia Agoston, Rawand Amsdr

Anthropology Publications

This report describes findings from research on networking activities and strategies among women in executive and leadership positions in Canadian organizations. The project was carried out by graduate student researchers in collaboration with the Women's Executive Network. Networking is defined as the creation and maintenance of a community of diverse interests, through in-person and online engagements, that can be mobilized for the benefit of oneself or other members of one’s network. We found that the shift to primarily online networking activities due to COVID-19 removed some existing barriers related to age, gender and location, while introducing others related to family …

Barriers And Enablers To Building Entrepreneurial Ecosystems As Perceived By Change Agents In The Workplace, Shanda Barrett

Dissertations

This study explores factors that influence entrepreneurial ecosystems. Clifton (2010, 2015) recommends entrepreneurship, better business models, and new business startups as a solution for economic renewal in the United States and specifically identifies disengaged workers and low-energy workplaces as the starting point. The recommendation does not address how to make workplaces conducive to entrepreneurial activity, nor does the recommendation address how to engage entrepreneurial employees.

Existing literature outlines the known tensions between theory, anecdotal evidence, and the professional practice of building entrepreneurial ecosystems. To date, the term entrepreneurial ecosystem exists as a metaphor in the extant literature. While scholars have …