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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

An Analysis Of The Elements Of Collaboration Associated With Top Collaborative Tools, Kristopher C. Nagy Mar 2010

An Analysis Of The Elements Of Collaboration Associated With Top Collaborative Tools, Kristopher C. Nagy

Theses and Dissertations

United States government agencies have historically experienced problems with inter-agency information sharing and collaboration. In fact, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United Stated recommended that the U.S. government “increase information sharing” and “improve collaboration across government agencies.” To this day, no collaborative tools are being used to fully address that recommendation. In fact, there is little agreement as to what collaboration necessarily means and what characteristics or capabilities are best suited for the design and use of collaborative tools. Before we can improve collaboration across agencies, we need to better understand the nature of collaboration itself, and …


An Empirical Investigation Of Factors Influencing Knowledge Management System Success, John F. Whitfield Jr. Mar 2008

An Empirical Investigation Of Factors Influencing Knowledge Management System Success, John F. Whitfield Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge has been viewed as a critical component for organizations. Consequently, organizations implement Knowledge Management Systems (KMSs) to seek competitive advantages, but they may encounter mixed results. This research draws on previous information system and knowledge management system success-related literature and selects eight factors that are believed to be critical for the successful implementation of a KMS. These factors were derived through a literature search of current KMS success-related literature. The purpose of this study is to identify factors that could have a clear influence on the development and implementation of KMSs. The study presents the empirical examination of a …


High Performing Teams: The Moderating Effects Of Communication Channels, Edgard I. Zamora Mar 2008

High Performing Teams: The Moderating Effects Of Communication Channels, Edgard I. Zamora

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to support the Air Force's goal of improving team performance by bringing visibility to several overlapping areas of study where little comprehensive research has been conducted. Specifically, an officer's ability to successfully complete his or her mission has been complicated in recent years by the emergence of new communication technologies. For example, communication networks now make it possible for pilots to fly Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs) who sit on one continent while the aircraft and mission planners are on another and, although they may not see each other, their physical separation does not negate …


A Study Of Information Exchange Between United States Air Force Bases And Their Surrounding Communities, Andrew C. Clewett Mar 2004

A Study Of Information Exchange Between United States Air Force Bases And Their Surrounding Communities, Andrew C. Clewett

Theses and Dissertations

Data, information, and knowledge are exchanged daily from United States Air Force (USAF) bases to surrounding communities. The purpose of this research is to aid managers and commanders in gaining a better understanding of their information flow and bettering their information management practices. The research specifically seeks answers to the questions of where information is exchanged, why information is exchanged, and to whom information is exchanged with.


Organizational And Individual Effects On The Reporting Of Wrongdoing In The Workplace, Brian M. Stumpe Mar 2000

Organizational And Individual Effects On The Reporting Of Wrongdoing In The Workplace, Brian M. Stumpe

Theses and Dissertations

The study focuses on the organizational context in which the act of whistle-blowing occurs within organizations. The study suggests that many aspects of the context in which whistle-blowing actually occurs may be within the span of control of managers. Thus, management can possibly take steps to after certain aspects of the organizational context and ensure that organizational members are willing to report wrongdoing observed within their organization. To fulfill this objective, the study analyzes survey responses taken from military members' and civilian employees' responses to a 1997 survey distributed throughout the Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC), Wright Patterson Air Force Base …


Impact Of Actual Facilitator Alignment, Co-Location, And Video Intervention On The Efficacy Of Distributed Group Support Systems, Brian J. Heberlie, Mary O. Tolbert Dec 1999

Impact Of Actual Facilitator Alignment, Co-Location, And Video Intervention On The Efficacy Of Distributed Group Support Systems, Brian J. Heberlie, Mary O. Tolbert

Theses and Dissertations

The growth of distributed group support systems (GSS) suggests that organizations will continue to bring dispersed groups of people together to make decisions over computer networks. In many instances those groups are temporarily assembled to address a task and then summarily disbanded never to work together again. In order for users to effectively use the GSS issues of trust and control need to be addressed within the GSS design. Users have perceptions about the fairness of structural and social determinants of the GSS design. These perceptions influence both the decision making process and process outcomes. This article shows the negative …


Why Didn’T You Tell Me?: Toward Building A Model Of Why Information Is Not Shared Well In Organizations, Robert C. Kitchen Dec 1999

Why Didn’T You Tell Me?: Toward Building A Model Of Why Information Is Not Shared Well In Organizations, Robert C. Kitchen

Theses and Dissertations

The effective use of information in an organization is vital to its success. One of the biggest investments being made today by companies is in their information infrastructures. However, with all of the resources being dedicated to improving information flows, evidence shows that organizations still do not share information as widely as they could or should be. Many studies have been conducted to learn the reasons why people in organizations do not share information as well as would be good. However, no study was found that reported the relative frequency of reported reasons for not sharing information. This paper gathers …


An Assessment Of Mentoring Functions And Barriers To Mentoring, Kristopher A. Singer Dec 1999

An Assessment Of Mentoring Functions And Barriers To Mentoring, Kristopher A. Singer

Theses and Dissertations

A study of 91 Coast Guard junior officers and their mentors established the construct validity for mentoring functions and barriers to mentoring. The Air Force relies on supervisors to provide mentoring to their subordinates. The key predictors of whether junior officers report their supervisors as mentors were similarity between mentor and mentee and the quality of the supervisory relationship in terms of LMX and psychosocial and career development mentoring functions. The results demonstrated evidence for a compensatory theory of mentoring. Multiple mentors do not have a synergistic effect on mentoring relationships. The key predictors of reporting an additional mentor (other …


Media Use And Performance In Air Force Organizations: Testing The Value Of Media Richness Theory, Lawrence D. Harrison Jr. Dec 1997

Media Use And Performance In Air Force Organizations: Testing The Value Of Media Richness Theory, Lawrence D. Harrison Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Communication is a critical factor in any organization. The choices Air Force members make when communicating have a direct impact on mission accomplishment. Media Richness Theory (MRT) recognizes that communication needs, and the ability of various media to support them, are influenced by a number of factors involving the message content, situational elements, and its symbolic aspects. The theory predicts employees who use more appropriate communication media face to face conversation, telephone, e-mail, and written correspondence as predicted by the theory, will be more effective performers. The ability of MRT to explain supervisory performance ratings for a group of junior …


An Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of Online Peer Feedback At The United States Air Force Academy, Annette M. Driscoll Dec 1997

An Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of Online Peer Feedback At The United States Air Force Academy, Annette M. Driscoll

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the effectiveness of the Air Force Academy's Department of English local area network peer feedback system. Four main questions were examined. These questions explored a) whether students reported improvement in their writing, b) whether students reported that feedback is worthwhile, c) whether students reported that LAN sessions increase enjoyment of writing, and d) what types of feedback the students 1) received and 2) found most helpful. Three groups were studied. Forty-six students received feedback online, fifty students received feedback face to face, and thirty-three students did not receive feedback. Comparisons were made for the questions mentioned above …


Whose Information Is It Anyway? An Argument For Information Stewardship, Trevor W. Plant Dec 1996

Whose Information Is It Anyway? An Argument For Information Stewardship, Trevor W. Plant

Theses and Dissertations

Information is an important resource for businesses and government, with information quality influencing decision quality, and highlighting our need to manage our information well: as a resource. Information Resource Management (IRM) has as its goal the management of information as a resource, but has not been implemented with the level of success expected. Problems with the implementation of IRM are indicated by the presence of redundant or inconsistent data, inability to share information across systems, and difficulty finding the information on systems. We propose that these difficulties are related to behaviours linked to perceived ownership of corporate information by organisational …


Air Force Media Use And Conformance With Media Richness Theory: Implications For E-Mail Use And Policy, Heather L. Adams Dec 1996

Air Force Media Use And Conformance With Media Richness Theory: Implications For E-Mail Use And Policy, Heather L. Adams

Theses and Dissertations

Communication has become a major aspect of a manager's job. When communicating, they are faced with many choices of what media to use - some include face-to-face, telephone, e-mail, or written. Managerial effectiveness can improve if managers make appropriate media choices. Thus, it is important to study how Air Force managers perceive media and what kind of choices they are making based on those perceptions. Media Richness Theory suggests that media choices are affected by content reasons, situational reasons, and symbolic reasons. This study examined Air Force managers and found they conform highly with Media Richness Theory in their media …


An Investigation Of A Usaf Information Resource Management Community World Wide Web Site, Kristin A. Waldner Dec 1995

An Investigation Of A Usaf Information Resource Management Community World Wide Web Site, Kristin A. Waldner

Theses and Dissertations

This research project investigated establishing a World Wide Web (WWW) site dedicated to the United States Air Force Information Resource Management (IRM) community. The project determined guidelines for successful, appropriate format and content for such a site. To discover what benefits the IRM community might achieve, the project explored those benefits achieved or expected to be achieved by the business community and by government agencies with established WWW sites. The project also attempted to define an average profile of active duty IRM community Internet and WWW users. The above objectives were accomplished through a literature review and through the use …


A Solid Surface From Which To Explore: The Executive Summary As The Frontispiece Of A Technical Hyperdocument, Alicia M. Williams Dec 1995

A Solid Surface From Which To Explore: The Executive Summary As The Frontispiece Of A Technical Hyperdocument, Alicia M. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

This research analyzes the purpose and organization of a well-written executive summary, reviews the characteristics of hypermedia, and compares the strengths and weaknesses of a typical executive summary published originally on paper and now under consideration for transition to hypermedia in order to determine which elements of an executive summary are essential before effective transition to hypermedia. The executive summary of a technical report is a stand-alone description of what was done, how it was done, what the results were, why they matter, and where further information is found in the report body. Executive summaries have a wider audience than …


Multimedia And Audience: Implications For Executive Summaries, Donna M. Grudziecki Dec 1995

Multimedia And Audience: Implications For Executive Summaries, Donna M. Grudziecki

Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to put technical reports into a multimedia format, this thesis explored audience analysis and multimedia issues related to executive summaries. While multimedia has been shown to be effective at conveying complex information in certain environments, little research has been done to apply this technology to technical reporting. This thesis concentrates on the executive summary audience because the executive summary is the most read and most important section of a report. To analyze the audience, I conducted telephone interviews with report readers using an interview form I developed based on Mathes and Stevenson's guidelines for conducting an audience …


An Analysis Of The Extent To Which Humor Is Accepted And Employed In The Workplace For The Enhancement Of Productivity And Creativity, Jonathan R. Specht, Paul D. Tobin Dec 1994

An Analysis Of The Extent To Which Humor Is Accepted And Employed In The Workplace For The Enhancement Of Productivity And Creativity, Jonathan R. Specht, Paul D. Tobin

Theses and Dissertations

Today's business literature is filled with discussions of the many benefits humor can bring to the work environment. Two of these purported benefits, namely, the enhancement of workplace productivity and the enhancement of workplace creativity, have attracted the attention of modern managers challenged with keeping their organizations competitive despite dwindling financial and human resources. Unfortunately, little research has been done to date which actually demonstrates a link between the existence of workplace humor and improved levels of productivity and creativity. Without this demonstration of causality, most managers are reluctant to invest corporate resources in pursuit of workplace humor despite its …


The Effects Of Three-Dimensional Graphs On Decision Making, Anita E. Latin, Anthony L. Villanueva Sep 1994

The Effects Of Three-Dimensional Graphs On Decision Making, Anita E. Latin, Anthony L. Villanueva

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this thesis was to determine whether or not, and by how much, three-dimensional graphs are more accurate and efficient than two- dimensional graphs and tables when presenting alternatives to decision makers. A graphical experiment was designed using a microcomputer. This experiment presented a business scenario to test Air Force Institute of Technology AFIT Professional Continuing Education PCE students. The experiment attempted to determine how well DoD decision makers accurately and efficiently performed elementary data collection tasks using various graphs or tables. The experiment used a randomized order within-subject factorial design with repeated measures. The factorial experiment was …


Information Sharing Within The Coea Process, Constance S. Maginnis, Michael J. Monroe Dec 1993

Information Sharing Within The Coea Process, Constance S. Maginnis, Michael J. Monroe

Theses and Dissertations

In order to meet the challenges of a reduced work force and the changing roles and/or missions of the Air Force in particular, the Cost and Operational Effectiveness Analysis COEA is used in the decision-making of every phase of the acquisition process. The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense OASD has mandated that COEAs are to be an integral part of the acquisition process. The COEA information gathering or sharing process is not well defined. Areas within the COEA process affected are the coordination of common elements of information required, the data collection, and the generation of possible solutions. …


The Effects Of Violations Of Bar Chart Standards On Managerial Decision Making, Jeanne E. Tennison, Phillip G. Puglisi Dec 1993

The Effects Of Violations Of Bar Chart Standards On Managerial Decision Making, Jeanne E. Tennison, Phillip G. Puglisi

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigated whether a difference in data display, modes or a difference in data trends affected mid-level Air Force managers trend impressions, risk assessments. and loan decisions. By presenting data in four different modes, and by three data trends, a 4 x 3 factorial design experiment was prepared 180 subjects were tested, 15 in each of the twelve treatment cells. Each subject viewed three graphs or tables and made a decision based on the trend observed, their assessment of the trend, and a decision table. At the end of the experiment. they were asked for their impression of the …