Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons^™

Citizen Engagement In Local Government Management In Post-Colonial African Countries: A Case Study Of The Republic Of Burundi, Ngulwe K. Alfani

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

Literature on in-depth studies of citizen engagement in local government management in African post-colonial countries is scarce. This qualitative research sought to understand the practice of citizen engagement in four selected African countries, but due to financial constraint, the Republic of Burundi was selected for the study. Data consisted of documentary sources, observational field notes, focus group discussions, and 23 individuals’ semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions of Burundian local government, mainly, Marie de Bujumbura and its communes. Data were analyzed through detailed description, categorical aggregation, direct interpretation, and development of naturalistic generalization. The findings from the reading of governmental documents …

Global Command And Control For The Future Operating Concept: Implications For Structural Design And Information, Ian M. Slazinik, Benjamin T. Hazen

Faculty Publications

Due to increasing demands on air mobility aircraft, US Transportation Command(USTRANSCOM) has more recently advocated retaining operational control (OPCON)of aircraft it might have transferred to a requesting combatant command in the past. This recent approach mirrors that of similar-type civilian logistics operations that are centrally managed to maximize efficiencies by flowing resources to the point of need without having to navigate through time-consuming sourcing processes. Furthermore, the acceleration of information availability has condensed decision timelines and changed how similar civilian organizations organize and perform, allowing them to react seemingly on a dime to changing market conditions anywhere.4While retaining OPCON might …

Workplace Antidiscrimination Policy Effect On Transgender Employee Job Satisfaction, Stacie Christian

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Not all organizations in Wisconsin have transgender inclusive antidiscrimination policies. Leadership can use the results of this study to understand the effect of antidiscrimination policies on transgender employee job satisfaction. Quantitative data were collected from transgender employees aged 18 years or older who were employed but not self-employed in the state of Wisconsin. The relationship between the presence and absence of transgender inclusive antidiscrimination policy and job satisfaction was addressed by creating an anonymous online survey that contained demographic questions, the 1997 Job Descriptive Index (JDI) and the Job in General (JIG). Participants were notified of the study using fliers …

Exploring The Impact Of Shared Leadership Styles And Nonprofit Performance, Will Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Empirical data have not adequately revealed current methods of nonprofit leadership in a way that reflects shared leadership in the nonprofit sector leaving nonprofit organizations (NPOs) at a disadvantage in relation to understanding and describing leadership effectiveness. Using a conceptual framework that incorporated organizational theory, shared leadership theory, path goal theory, transformational theory, leader member exchange, and fund development theory, this mini ethnographic study was conducted to explore the effect of leadership styles in shared leadership situations and the impact of matched and unmatched leadership styles on NPO funding performance. With the use of purposeful sampling to conduct the study, …

Racial Microaggressions, Faculty Motivation, And Job Satisfaction In Southeastern Universities, Saundra Elizabeth Carr

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

For racial minority faculty, racism is associated with adverse outcomes, including poor job satisfaction and less motivation, which may lead faculty to leave the teaching profession. It is unknown what relationships, if any, exist among perceived racial microaggression, job satisfaction, and employee motivation among African American (AA) faculty and other faculty of color in colleges and universities in the southeastern United States. Critical race theory provided a framework to investigate the relationship of perceived racial microaggressions toward AA faculty and other faculty of color with motivation and job satisfaction. This study involved a correlational design using multiple linear regressions to …

Relationships Between Sales Management Control, Salesperson Role, And Salesperson Performance, Michelle Vazzana

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organization theory proposes that managers exert control over the behavior of salespeople and the outcomes salespeople are expected to deliver. The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental study was to examine the relationships between activity control, capability control, and outcome control and salesperson performance, as well as the moderating effects of product complexity, task complexity, and number of accounts on the control-performance relationships for business-to-business sales personnel. The framework for the study was based in the concept of organizational control. Data analysis included hierarchical regression of a convenience sample of 374 survey responses from salespeople to analyze the direct and moderating …

Relationships Between Job Satisfaction, Supervisor Support, And Profitability Among Quick Service Industry Employees, Joseph Carl Vann

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Low profit margins threaten the sustainability of quick service restaurants (QSRs). In the United States, low levels of employee job satisfaction and low employee perceptions of supervisor support decrease organizational profitability by as much as $151 million annually, depending on the size and type of organization. Guided by the 2-factor theory of motivation, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between employee job satisfaction, employee perceptions of supervisor support, and organizational profitability. A convenience sample of employees from 86 QSR franchise locations in Houston, Texas completed the Job Satisfaction and Perceived Supervisor Support surveys. Multiple linear …

African American Charitable Giving In Charlotte, North Carolina: Engagement Strategies, Keith Eric Cradle

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nonprofit agencies are instrumental in U.S. society and local communities. While there is significant outreach targeted for wealthy and middle-class Caucasian families, there is a lack of targeted effort for African Americans. The purpose of this case study was to explore the strategies development directors use to engage and retain African American donors. The focus of the research questions was what factors lead to successful engagement campaigns for African Americans. The qualitative case study was suitable for gathering data from multiple sources of information, including an interview questionnaire and existing literature. A purposeful sampling strategy was appropriate for choosing 5 …

Nonprofit Sustainability: How Does Departure Of A Founding Leader Impact Outcomes?, Lauren Mcindoo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a high failure rate among local community-based nonprofit human service organizations in New York State, which may lead to service gaps in communities. Increasing sustainability may reduce these gaps and allow nonprofits to continue following the first leadership transition. Using McGregor's human resource theory as the guide, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the relationship between leadership succession planning and how departure of founding leaders impacts the sustainability of nonprofits. Data were collected through interviews with 16 leaders that included departing founding leaders, successors, and 2 board members in 4 local community-based nonprofit human service …

Human Resource Local Content In Ghana's Upstream Petroleum Industry, Papa Benin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Enactment of Ghana's Petroleum (Local Content and Local Participation) Regulations, 2013 (L.I. 2204) was intended to regulate the percentage of local products, personnel, financing, and goods and services rendered within Ghana's upstream petroleum industry value chain. Five years after the inception of Ghana's upstream oil and gas industry, a gap is evident between the requirements of L.I. 2204 and professional practice. Drawing on Lewin's change theory, a cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the extent of differences between the prevailing human resource local content and the requirements of L.I. 2204 in Ghana's upstream petroleum industry. The extent to which training …

Perceived Leadership Style, Gender, And Job Satisfaction In County Jail Correctional Officers, Melissa Minardo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a considerable amount of research demonstrating important gender differences in job satisfaction and perceived leadership style. These critical relationships have not been sufficiently explored in correctional institutions, particularly as more women are entering corrections officer positions, and low job satisfaction can lead to risky and sometimes life-threatening consequences. The purpose of this ex post facto study was to investigate the relationship between correctional officers' job satisfaction and their perception of transformational leadership style in their supervisor and to explore how the interaction between leadership style and gender affects job satisfaction. The theoretical framework of transformational leadership was used …

Relationships Between Women's Glass Ceiling Beliefs, Career Advancement Satisfaction, And Quit Intention, Michelle Roman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research on the glass ceiling shows that women may encounter obstacles in their pursuit of high-level management positions. The purpose of this quantitative study was to test the explanatory style theoretical framework by examining relationships between women's glass ceiling beliefs, career advancement satisfaction, and quit intention and to determine whether satisfaction with career advancement opportunities mediated the relationship between glass ceilings beliefs and quit intention. Data were collected from 179 working women in the public or private sector and women who exited the public or private sector job market within the past 5 years via Web-based surveys. Glass ceiling beliefs …

A Phenomenological Study Of Correctional Officers' Perceived Emotions On The Job, Heather Susan Grammatico

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Correctional officers work in a stressful environment and are regularly exposed to dangerous and emotionally charged situations. Researchers have detailed the potential negative outcomes of this occupation, yet little research has examined the extent to which correctional officers experience emotion while on their shifts, and how those emotions may translate into stress, divorce, substance abuse issues, domestic violence, and high mortality rates upon retirement. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to learn how correctional officers experience their felt and expressed emotions while at work. Data collection was done using a 15-item open ended questionnaire designed by the researcher and …

Analytic Tradecraft In The U.S. Intelligence Community, John Joseph Borek

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 addressed the belief that weak analytic tradecraft had been an underlying cause of intelligence failures in the U.S. by requiring the Director of National Intelligence to establish and enforce tradecraft standards throughout the U.S. intelligence community (IC). However, analytic tradecraft-the innate abilities and learned skills of intelligence analysts, combined with the tools and technology needed to conduct analysis-is an understudied and poorly understood concept and a decade later, the frequency of intelligence failures has not improved. Using actor-network theory (ANT) as the foundation, the purpose of this qualitative narrative study was …

Effects Of Change Valence And Informational Assessments On Organizational Readiness For Change, James Edward Phillips

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nearly two-thirds of organizational change initiatives are unsuccessful due to a lack of high levels of change readiness prior to implementation of the change. A review of the literature supported the importance of establishing organizational readiness for change (ORC), but a gap remained in the empirical data and extant literature about whether presumed antecedents identified in ORC theory contribute to increased levels of ORC. The purpose of this study was to gather empirical data to address this question of whether change valence and informational assessment scores are associated with increased levels of organizational readiness for implementing change. The research design …

Minimizing Nepotistic Practices In Family Owned And Operated Businesses: The Private Sector, Darlene Thomas Thomas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Owners of family businesses in the private sector must be cognizant of nepotism to reduce skilled employee turnover. Guided by Herzberg two-factor theory as the conceptual framework, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies used by family owned and operated business leaders to minimize nepotistic practices that reduce skilled nonfamily employees' voluntary turnover. The population for this study included 3 family owned and operated funeral establishments in the Midwest region of St. Louis, Missouri. These participants had sustained their family businesses longer than 5 years while minimizing skilled nonfamily employees' voluntary turnover. Data were collected from …

Education's Loss Of The Public: An Archival Exploration Of American Public Schools' Diminishing Social Returns And The Emerging Utility Of Social Entrepreneurship, Tia Ha-Quyen Ho

Scripps Senior Theses

The literature presented in the following pages explores the shortcomings of the American public education system in the context of creating long-term, sustainable social change. Using financial illiteracy and its relationship to low quality of life as an entry point, the first section exposes public schools’ shortcomings as agents of social change by delving into the hardships endured by the original public school promoters of the 19^th century, the pitfalls of President George W. Bush’s 2001 enactment of No Child Left Behind, and the shortcomings of the financial literacy programming that found traction in urban schools following the subprime …

Gender Matters: Perceptions Of Corporate Leadership, Kylie A. Braegelmann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women remain conspicuously underrepresented at the highest levels of corporate management; thus, it seems, gender matters. Gender bias in financial markets would imply an inefficient market, which necessarily constrains economic performance and social welfare more generally. To measure gender bias, I examine the cumulative abnormal returns around CEO announcements from 1992 through 2016 using a modified event study methodology. Existing event studies in this field are inconclusive as to whether or not such a bias exists. Therefore, this research contributes to the literature by extending the data, using a larger event window, and studying bias over time and firm size. …

Stigma And Reputation: Exploring The Lingering Effects Of Organizational Stigma, Jahnavi Patel

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Stigmas have been widely used to describe organizations and individuals that have negative reputations or that have engaged in illegitimate practices. Extensive research has been done on the effects of positive reputation and personal reputation. However, there is still much to learn about the effects and consequences of organizational stigmas. The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical overview of the consequences of organizational stigmas, particularly in the area of employee mobility, and to help understand the relationship between negative organizational reputation and personal reputation. Contributions of this research, the limitations and directions for future research are discussed …

Outsourcing Human Resource Activities - Impact On Organizational Performance In Multinational Organizations., Vesela Kacharova

Theses

Outsourcing some or all Human Resources functions is a part of a growing trend. Organizations have different reasons to contract HR to an outside provider such as to save money, focus on strategic Human Resources, improve compliance, gain access to skilled HR professionals, or take advantage of technology. This thesis focuses on the outsourcing of Human Resources activities and possible impacts on organizational performance. Due to the large amount of multinational organizations with presence in Ireland, the research focused on outsourcing of HR functions in multinational organizations.

Two different types of questionnaires were conducted targeting Human Resources professionals and Line …

Locked Up: Parallel Correctional Officer, Deputy, And Inmate Decision-Making Experiences In County Jails, Mariko Catherine Peshon

Dissertations

Recidivism is a complex phenomenon. Greater than 65 percent of incarcerated adults return to jail within three years. While numerous empirical studies focus on factors that contribute to recidivism, there is limited existing research that examines decision-making as one of these factors. The purpose of this study is to address this gap in the literature and develop an understanding of the influence of decision-making processes on inmates and correctional officers and deputies in the California criminal justice system. An exploratory 2014 pilot study at three California county jails found correctional officers and inmates faced similar challenges related to decision-making as …

Exploring Customer Service Through Hospital Management Strategies, Delores Leonard Leonard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Patient demand for a better quality of healthcare and services has increased as insurance companies have decreased payments to hospitals. The purpose of this qualitative single exploratory case study was to explore hospital managers' strategies to improve customer service. Data were gathered from semistructured interviews with 5 hospital managers who implemented customer service strategies in their hospital systems, hospital policy and procedure documents, and qualitative data from the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Hospital Compare website. Expectation-confirmation theory served as the conceptual framework that grounded the study. Data were analyzed using methodological triangulation, and 3 themes emerged: the …

Strategies To Improve Millennial Employee Engagement In The Luxury Resort Industry, Kei-Lin Cerf

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Millennials are estimated to compose half of the workforce by 2020. Many hospitality researchers have studied Millennial employee engagement, but less is known about how to apply strategies that are authentically engaging for Millennials. The purpose of this study was to explore Millennial employee engagement strategies. The research questions for this study were used to examine the engagement strategies of luxury resort leaders and how Millennial employees perceived engagement. A single case study design was used to gather interview, questionnaire, and company document data from employees of a luxury resort in Hawai`i. Kahn's employee engagement theory served as the basis …

The Effect Of Volunteer Demographics On Nonprofit Volunteer Retention, Keri Vanoverschelde

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nonprofit organizations rely upon volunteers to assist in achieving their mission and reaching strategic operational goals. As the volunteer population in the United States has decreased, nonprofit organizations are challenged to recruit and retain volunteers. To improve operational efficiencies in nonprofit volunteer management, organizations need to implement more effective strategies to assign roles to volunteers and develop a better understanding of how those roles fit into volunteers' lives and the value systems of individual volunteers. The functional theory of volunteer behavior characterizes the values, understanding, social, career, protective, and enhancement functions as they relate to an individual's motivation for volunteering. …

Leadership Style And Organizational Citizenship Behavior In Community-Based Mental Health Facilities, Paula Ann Lucey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A dramatic and historic evolution has occurred as mental health care has shifted from institutional-based care to community-based care. Framed by the social exchange theory, the purpose of this study was to identify the correlation of the leadership style of supervisors in residential care facilities with the organizational citizenship behavior of the residential care workers. The research questions focused on the correlation between the leadership styles and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) with a secondary focus specifically on transformational leadership. Residential care workers in 3 states working in 65 facilities within a single organization completed 2 surveys: the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire …

Engaging A Multigenerational Workforce, Schnarda R. Robinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management reported the productivity levels of the American multigenerational workforce decreasing as leaders strive to actively engage employees to improve organizational output. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore what leadership strategies federal government managers use to engage a multigenerational workforce. The conceptual framework consisted of Kahn's employee engagement theory and Strauss and Howe's generational cohort theory. The sample consisted of 3 federal government managers within metro Atlanta, Georgia who had successfully managed a multigenerational workforce, demonstrated through the feedback they received from their employees. Data were collected using face-to-face semistructured …

Correlations Between Management Behaviors And Financial Indicators With Fda Compliance Leading To Medicine Shortages, Francisco Gutierrez-Perez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the first 3 years of the Obama Administration, 2009-2011, the number of warning letters issued to pharmaceutical firms for manufacturing and quality issues increased by 81% to 49 letters. Only 9 letters were issued in the last 3 years of the George W. Bush Administration. Shortfalls in compliance and product quality led to medicine shortages that affected patients' treatment and health. This quantitative study sought to learn to what extent, if any, the independent variables, management behaviors and financial indicators at pharmaceutical firms in the United States, correlated with, or predicted, the dependent variable, compliance with the FDA regulations. …

The Effect Of Secondary Teacher Personality On Educational Empowerment, Latoya Sharee Alexander

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Past research has shown a relationship between teachers' personalities and their ability to motivate students to perform, suggesting that teacher behaviors are the most important catalysts for student empowerment. This descriptive quantitative research bridged a knowledge gap by assessing the statistical significance of the relationship between secondary teacher personality types, as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment, and their ability to academically empower their students, as measured by EDUCATEAlabama. A convenience sample of 334 secondary educators completed the MBTI assessment and reported EDUCATEAlabama empowerment scores. A comparison of Title 1 high school and non-Title 1 high school data, …

Exploring Mission Drift And Tension In A Nonprofit Work Integration Social Enterprise, Teresa M. Jeter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The nonprofit sector is increasingly engaged in social enterprise, which involves a

combination and balancing of social mission and business goals which can cause mission

drift or mission tension. A work integrated social enterprise (WISE) is a specific type of

social enterprise that focuses on integrating hard-to-employ individuals, such as ex

offenders, back into the workforce, usually through producing goods or offering services.

Little is known about how WISE organizations manage mission drift, particularly given

the unique characteristics of this type of organization. Using institutional values theory

and resource dependence theory as the foundation, the purpose of this case study …

Exploring The Impact Of Collective Bargaining Agreements On Employee Performance Management, Nana Gyesie

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As of 2014, union density in the United States had dropped compared to union density during the 1950s. Collective bargaining agreements are the foundational agreement for all issues related to salary, benefits, and working conditions. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore how collective bargaining agreements hindered or enabled managers from creating and sustaining high performance work practices. The conceptual framework included Walton and McKersie's work on behavioral theories for labor negotiations, human capital, and collective bargaining, and Huselid's work on high performance work practices. Fifteen respondents across 5 labor unions in Washington DC were selected through …