Education Commons^™

The Relationship Between University Employees’ Work Engagement And The Perception Of Their Influence On Student Integration And Retention, Janea Sims Mcdonald

Dissertations

The retention of college students is an issue that affects the student, the university, and the workforce. When a student does not graduate, they often either earn less over the period of their lifetime, or are unable to find a job. The workforce is affected because this means fewer qualified applicants to fill positions. Universities are impacted in many ways, including financially. Lower retention rates lead to less income from tuition and decreased funding from state and federal sources which base funding formulas on performance outcomes (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2014).

One way to increase the likelihood of student …

Development Of Workforce Skills: Student Perceptions Of Mentoring In First Robotics, Katie Joan Veal Wallace

Dissertations

In today’s global economy, new workforce competencies are needed for success at both individual and societal levels. The new workforce skills extend beyond basic reading, writing, and arithmetic to include higher order processes such as critical thinking and problem solving. Technical job opportunities have grown by approximately 17%, yet the United States continues to decline in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Further, U.S. students earn average or below average test scores when compared to other developed countries. Researchers cite the need to incorporate the learning of workplace skills into secondary education curriculum, and advocates call for new teaching …

The Relationship Between Wellness Behavior Traits And Organizational Citizenship Behavior Traits, Vicki Yeager Brumfield

Dissertations

In difficult economic times a healthy employee that has consistently low absenteeism rates and who volunteers or takes on extra responsibilities at the workplace could be an asset for any business or organization. The personnel component is a significant area of expense for most businesses that includes costs related to salaries, insurance, and training. An effective and efficient employee impacts the morale, productivity, and the fiscal health of a workplace. The aim of the present study was to examine the pattern of relationships between organizational citizenship behavior and employee wellness behaviors. Data sets that consist of a combination of a …

Manufacturing Mississippi's Workforce: An Assessment Of Employability Skills As Perceived By Faculty And Senior Students Of Four Year Manufacturing Related Degree Programs, Mamie Yvette Griffin

Dissertations

A worldwide concern exists that undergraduate programs are not producing graduates with the kind of lifelong learning and professional skills needed for workplace success. Numerous research studies indicate new employees lack needed employability skills such as teamwork, decision-making, and communication.

Similarly, recent national and state findings suggest that graduates of Mississippi‟s manufacturing-related degree programs may not be fully prepared to meet the needs of manufacturers in the state. Hence, this research proposes to determine the degree to which Mississippi‟s four-year manufacturing-related degree programs address employability.

To answer this question, the present study utilizes descriptive non-experimental research to assess the perception …

The Impact Of A Direct Care Training Program On The Self-Efficacy Of Newly Hired Direct Care Employees At State Mental Health Facilities, Marcus Wayne Lewis

Dissertations

Self-efficacy has been shown to be an important element in the success of individuals in a variety of different settings. This research examined the impact of a two week new employee orientation training program on the general and social self-efficacy of newly hired direct care employees at state mental health facilities. The research showed that the training program did not have a statistically significant impact on the social self-efficacy of the new employees after the training or after one month on the job. The research also showed that the two week new employee orientation program did not have a statistically …

The Computer Ate My Classroom: Assessing Student Interactions, Perceived Learning, And Satisfaction In Online Community College Career Technical Education Courses, Jessica Lindsey Miller Lewis

Dissertations

Workforce changes, globalization, and increasing use of technology create the need for an increased number of skilled workers. The community college system, through Career Technical Education (CTE), serves as a catalyst for skills training; however institutions must seek innovative ways in which to attract and retain students. Online learning offers flexibility in time and space, the ability to reach a larger student population, and to attract a new generation of digital learners. For these reasons, online learning enables institutions to develop a larger pool of skilled workers through online CTE courses.

Interaction is a key factor in the learning process …

School Web Sites And Teacher Employment Interest, David Theodore Freeman

Dissertations

The Internet has changed the way many organizations, including public and private schools, recruit and select employees. It has also changed the way many people research and pursue employment opportunities, including those seeking positions in education. The school Web site is often the medium of first contact between a school or school district and a potential employee. That first contact can influence the potential employee’s decision to actively pursue employment with a school or a school district.

This research measured the reactions o f preservice teachers who visited three grade-level appropriate school Web sites of “poor,” “average,” and “best” distinction. …

Performance Evaluation Models For Strategic Decision-Making: Towards A Hybrid Model, Geraldina Villalobos Quezada

Dissertations

Performance management systems serve strategic, administrative, and developmental purposes; therefore, their role in an organization cannot be overestimated. As a function of this strategic role, different evaluation models have been developed and implemented by organizations: BSC, CIPP, TQM, Six Sigma, and AOP.

Following a review of current evaluation theory and practice models that focus on improving strategic decision-making in organizations, four research questions were developed that sought to identify the interrelationships, evaluation components, evaluation indicators, data collected to support the evaluation,evaluation implementation protocols, quantitative and qualitative analyses, outcomes, and critical factors of the BSC and CIPP models.

A multiple case …

Job Satisfaction And Its Relationship To Organizational And Religious Commitment Among Workers At Northern Caribbean University, Donna Brown

Dissertations

Problem. Recruiting teachers and motivating them to stay in their jobs present a challenge to educational institutions in Jamaica. Given the importance of workers' satisfaction to the health of an organization and the link between job satisfactionand turnover rate, then an examination of job satisfaction at Northern Caribbean University (NCU) is a priority. Based on this background, the primary focus of this study was to investigate job satisfaction and its relationship to organizational and religious commitment among workers at NCU.

Method. This study utilized a quantitative, descriptive research design. A survey questionnaire was sent to all full-time administrators …

Examining The Similarities And Differences In Benefits Of School-To-Work As A Workforce Development Strategy: A Study Of Key Stakeholder Involvement Using A Multiple Case Study Approach, Alton Leon Alford

Dissertations

Violence is a significant occupational hazard in the American workplace. Nearly a thousand employees are murdered on the job each year and workplacehomicide has become the leading cause of death for women and the second for men. From 1993 to 1999, there were an average of 1.7 million nonfatal violent victimizations each year, accounting for 18% of all violent crime. Although government employees accounted for 18% of the U.S. workforce, they made up 37% of workplace violence victims.

A review of literature found no unified definition of workplace violence. Recent scientific research regarding this problem is rare, despite its increasing …

The Field Study Of A Training Transfer Enhancement Process And Its Effect On Transfer Of Training, Andrew W. Bowne

Dissertations

Transfer of training is defined as the degree to which trainees apply, in their jobs, the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they gained in training. Research regarding transfer of training has called training effectiveness into question. For example, Baldwin and Ford (1988) reported average transfer rates typically in the 10% range.

The study tested the effectiveness of particular procedures and tools intended to enhance transfer of training. These transfer enhancing tools were employed by an experimental group of trainees’ supervisors (who received training from the researcher in the application of the tools) before a half-day problem-solving training workshop for their employees …

Relationships Between Leader Characteristics, Planned Change And Organizational Culture In A Dynamic Manufacturing Environment, Matthew Chodkowski

Dissertations

The new economic era has been marked by profound global change. In response, researchers and practitioners have called for a rethinking of the conventional concepts of leadership, change, and organizational culture to improve our competitiveness in this turbulent world market. This study investigated the relationships between leader style, leader behavior, leadership paradigm, leader knowledge of change, organizational culture potency, and planned change efficacy in a manufacturing company implementing a high performance work system change initiative. This study intended to contribute to the reconceptualization of the leadership construct and the explication of the leadership-culture-change linkage.

Six hundred and eighty-nine subjects representing …

The Relationship Between Organizational Culture And The Practice Of Program Evaluation In Human Service Organizations, Lorraine Marais

Dissertations

There are many obstacles for human service organizations in evaluating programs. Some of these barriers are the difficulty in defining human behavior and the change that needs to be evaluated, human service programs that take a long time to show results, agency capacity to do evaluation, and cost (Young, Hollister, Hodgkinson, & Associates, 1993). Another subtle yet powerful influence on the practice of evaluation in nonprofit organizations may be organizational culture (Schein, 1990). If an organization is going to employ self-evaluation, an organizational culture may be needed that will support such efforts. This study was designed to assess the relationship …

A Test Of A Rapid Developer Model: Workplace Factors Associated With Learning And Development, James A. Alexander

Dissertations

The speed at which individuals and organizations learn and develop is a vital contributor to organizational change and organizational effectiveness. This study postulated the notion of "rapid developers”, those persons who learn and acquire job competence more quickly than their peers. The purpose of this study was to identify, define, and differentiate the factors associated with "rapid development."

The author constructed a rapid developer model based upon the review of the disciplines of training, performance technology, total quality, organization learning, and organization culture. The model identified and defined the contextual factors that could be expected, based on an understanding of …

An Analysis Of Available Selection Factors For Judging The Educational Merit Of Short Duration, Out-Of-House, Management Training Programs For American Corporations, Douglas R. Loomer

Dissertations

The purpose of this research project was twofold. First, to determine which, if any, information items, normally known about short duration out-of-house management training programs (seminars, workshops, etc.) prior to attendance, are indicative of educational merit. Second, to utilize this knowledge of educational merit indicators to test for a difference between the educational merit of out-of-house management training programs provided by (a) academic and (b) nonacademic instructional sources.

A total of 20 program characteristics were identified as indicators of educational merit by a review of literature and/or survey of corporate training officers. Six of these 20 indicators produced a difference …