Organizational Communication Commons^™

Communicating Creativity: A Workshop And Communication Tools For Teaching And Consulting In Creativity, Stephen J. Hammond

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project developed tools to support a consulting practice integrating the author’s interests in creative process, design and organizational strategy. The focus is on educating students and clients about creativity, creative thinking, design and innovation. Design thinking concepts of user feedback and rapid prototyping were used during the project. The resulting products are materials for a multi-day graduate level workshop for design students, a creativity website including blogging capability and a four minute educational video aimed at helping establish an Aerospace Technology Center in Northern Illinois.

Harnessing Charisma For Leadership Training, Meagan Roper

Masters Theses

Effective leadership develops followers toward objectives that focus a group's energy to engage in its task and accomplish its goals. The following study sought to understand charismatic leadership and its role in creating transformational change. Through a mixed methods case study using surveys and interviews, this researcher sought to explain the essence of charismatic leadership. Within the organization this study investigated, this meant first establishing organizational vision for a family atmosphere and guiding members on the path to achieving that vision, generating motivation and dedication to the task goals. The researcher discovered practical communicative strategies for incorporating charismatic leadership in …

Editor-In-Chief’S Introduction To Spring 2013 Issue, William P. Ferris

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

A Manager’S Actions? An Exercise For Exploring Sexual Harassment, David E. Desplaces, John R. Ogilvie

Organization Management Journal

This exercise is designed to enhance students’ understanding of sexual harassment issues in the workplace, as well as to extend these issues to customer interactions in retail settings. Through research and class discussion, participants explore their perceptions and assumptions about a manager’s potentially harassing behaviors. Furthermore, discussions of the manager’s actions provide additional opportunities to explore issues dealing with legal foundations of sexual harassment as well as gender differences in response to harassment. Multiple variations are presented making this scenario/exercise suitable to various courses and all types of participants in order to facilitate a healthy discussion about the issues associated …

Progress And Regress In The Mba Curriculum: The Career And Practice Skills Gap, Robert R. Laud, Matthew S. Johnson

Organization Management Journal

The question of MBA (master of business administration) curriculum relevancy has extended over many years, but surprisingly there has been little cohesive effort on the part of business schools to modify their approach in preparing students for successful practice management. Our research provides support to the growing concern that managerial and behavioral skills education has been overshadowed by the quantitative orientation emphasized in most MBA programs, despite the weak relationship found between MBA curricula and career success. The results of our study, based upon the perceptions of successful executives, revealed a set of prioritized managerial advancement skills as essential to …

Beyond The Textbook: An Approach To Facilitating Student Understanding Of Organizational Culture In Organizations, Kathleen J. Barnes, George E. Smith

Organization Management Journal

Organizational culture has been likened to an onion, an umbrella, sticky glue, and an iceberg. Due to the multifaceted nature of the subject matter, presenting and explaining this topic to students can be a daunting task. This article describes an assignment that allows students to discover and understand organizational culture by conducting a cultural analysis of organizations. Student groups collaboratively complete this assignment by locating a research site, administering a questionnaire, processing quantitative data using a statistical analysis software package, analyzing qualitative data using content analysis with analytic coding, developing a formal written report, and making an oral presentation to …

Everything I Know About Business I Learned From The Grateful Dead: The Ten Most Innovative Lessons From A Long, Strange Trip By Barry Barnes, Joanne L. Tritsch, Claudia Harris

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Organizational Ethics: A Practical Approach Edited By Craig E. Johnson, Ashwini Gangadharan

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Theory To Practice: Practice To Theory, Devi Akella

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Four Articles To Stimulate Renewal In Management Education, Catherine C. Giapponi

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Glad Tidings And Grave Warnings: The Role Of Advice On Cooperation In Public Goods Dilemmas With Value Uncertainty, Matthew W. Mccarter, Bryan L. Bonner

Organization Management Journal

We investigate how third-party advice on the estimated value of a public good acts as a dual-uncertainty reducing mechanism to encourage cooperation in a trust social dilemma. Experiment 1 finds that the valence of an advisor’s estimate affects cooperation behavior and that this advice effect is mediated by the level of trust that an individual has in fellow group members. Experiment 2 finds that when estimates about the value of the public good are mixed, trust in experts declines, and trust in other group members also declines. Experiment 3 finds that mixed valence estimates do not affect cooperation behavior when …

Unreliability In Student Evaluation Of Teaching Questionnaires: Focus Groups As An Alternative Approach, Linda R. Martin, Robert Dennehy, Sandra Morgan

Organization Management Journal

The conventional method used to measure teaching effectiveness is the student evaluation of teaching questionnaire (SET). Research on the validity and reliability of SETs is vast, though riddled with inconsistencies. The many “myths” of SETs are investigated and the incongruities are demonstrated. We hypothesize that the discrepancies in empirical studies come from misunderstanding and inappropriate actions by students. To address the complexity inherent in these problems, we suggest the use of focus groups as an alternative approach or complement to the standard SETs. A recommended format and guidelines for running classroom focus groups are provided. Institutional constraints and implementation concerns …

What It Takes For Expert Advice To Lead To Improved Public Policy, Randall G. Sleeth

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Team Preparation Processes And Task Conflict On Virtual Team Performance, Pilar Pazos, Ana María Canto

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of the factors contributing to team performance in global virtual teams. We report on a study on global virtual teams involved on applied projects in industry. Team members differed in location and nationalities. This paper examines the relationships between goal commitment, planning and conflict. Data were collected from 34 teams in an international Master program in Quality Management, Safety and Environmental Impact hosted in Bolivia and Chile. Students were from nine different countries in South America. Students were assigned to teams of size 3 and participated in 15-week project as …

Knowledge Sharing And Knowledge Management System Avoidance: The Role Of Knowledge Type And The Social Network In Bypassing An Organizational Knowledge Management System, Susan A. Brown, Alan R. Dennis, Diana Burley, Priscilla Arling

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Knowledge sharing is a difficult task for most organizations, and there are many reasons for this. In this article, we propose that the nature of the knowledge shared and an individual's social network influence employees to find more value in person-to-person knowledge sharing, which could lead them to bypass the codified knowledge provided by a knowledge management system (KMS). We surveyed employees of a workman's compensation board in Canada and used social network analysis and hierarchical linear modeling to analyze the data. The results show that knowledge complexity and knowledge teachability increased the likelihood of finding value in person-to-person knowledge …

Changes In Auditing: A Three Part Investigation, Denise R. Hanes

2013

This dissertation consists of three studies investigating changes in auditing. This abstract summarizes each study, including purpose, methodology, and findings.

The first study synthesizes the extant literature examining geographically distributed work arrangements in other disciplines such as management and social psychology. Focusing on communication and coordination, knowledge sharing, work design, and social identity in geographically distributed teams, I identify opportunities for future research to expand our understanding of how geographically distributing audit work impacts auditors, the audit process, and audit quality.

My second paper explores a key contributor to the success of geographically distributed work highlighted in my literature review: …

Organizational And Societal Factors: Their Impact On Individual Attitudes, Kristen Backhaus

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

The Constructivist Approach To Learning, Steven Meisel

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Wrapping Up Omj’S First Year With Routledge, Taylor & Francis As Publisher, William P. Ferris

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Using The Three Stooges To Illustrate The Scientific Method, Steven M. Dunphy, Joe Dobson

Organization Management Journal

An exercise using a comedy film is proposed for illustrating social science experimentation and the scientific method. Not every consumer of research or data reports may have had training in research methodology. This article offers a way of introducing research methods and the critical examination of such reports to these consumers, who are often the ones most needful of rigor in assessing data, rather than taking things at face value. Whether one is evaluating information from business, government, or media sources, the lessons learned from Moe, Larry, and Curly in Hoi Polloi are quite valuable.

A Model And Test Of Individual And Organization Factors Influencing Individual Adaptation To Change, Jane D. Parent, Cheryl C. Sullivan, Christina Hardway, D. Anthony Butterfield

Organization Management Journal

This study analyzed the antecedents and outcomes of individual adaptation to a changing work environment. We developed and tested a model of both individual factors and organizational factors affecting individual responses to change. We hypothesized that individuals reporting higher levels of the antecedent variables would also report higher levels of adaptability. We also hypothesized better adaptors would perceive better work outcomes. The model was tested in a field study of 169 participants across four different organizations experiencing varying changes. Results indicated participation, role clarity, and optimism were positively related to adaptability. Further, we found that better adaptors were more satisfied …

You Want Me To Trust You? Using Adventure Learning To Teach Millennials About Trust, Kathleen J. Barnes, George E. Smith, Madeline Constantine

Organization Management Journal

Management educators are confronted with a variety of teaching challenges as they attempt to distill and instill practical knowledge. Compounding this overarching challenge is millennial students’ desire to be actively involved in their own learning and their need to receive immediate feedback regarding the practical implications of their course material. One particularly difficult topic to teach millennial students is trust. Adventure learning provides a medium to address these student desires and to explore trust in an emotionally, socially, and physically safe environment. This article explores adventure learning and looks at specific activities being used at a medium-sized, northeastern university to …

Health Professionals’ Challenges In Managing Hiv/Aids In South Africa, Lynette Louw, Claude-Helene Mayer

Organization Management Journal

The unprecedented human immune deficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) crisis worldwide, and specifically in Africa, requires new thinking, new practices, and new research into health management. Identifying the challenges in managing HIV/AIDS from a health professional’s perspective would bring new opportunities and uncertainties to health management. Being able to use the opportunities and to better cope with the uncertainties would require a fundamental change and transformation in organizational health management, thinking, and practices. This case study presents selected research findings from a more comprehensive qualitative research study conducted in a selected health organization in South Africa. The …

The New Entrepreneurial Leader: Developing Leaders Who Shape Social And Economic Opportunity By Danna Greenberg, Kate Mckone-Sweet, And H. James Wilson, D. Jeffrey Lynn

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Societal Institutions And Work And Family Gender-Role Attitudes, Lisa T. Stickney, Alison M. Konrad

Organization Management Journal

We examine associations between societal-level policies and gender-role attitudes using nationally representative International Social Survey Program (ISSP) data sets from 14 countries in 1994 and 2002. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) findings indicated that tax policies favoring dual-earner families were associated with greater egalitarianism in gender-role attitudes, while the relationship between parental leave times and individual gender-role attitudes was curvilinear in 2002. Low and high parental leave times were associated with traditionalism in gender-role attitude, while mid-length leaves were associated with egalitarianism. The findings support an institutional perspective on gender-role attitudes and suggest that public policies have sufficient impact on people’s …

Developing Entrepreneurial Leaders, Marguerite Schneider

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Alternative Approaches To Understanding Motivation And Leadership, Kristen Backhaus

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Older-Worker-Friendly Organizational Policies On Retirement Attitudes And Planning, Jeremy Cochran, Kerri Anne Crowne, Caryl E. Carpenter

Organization Management Journal

This study develops and analyzes a model of the impact of older-worker-friendly (OWF) organizations’ policies on retirement, specifically attitudes toward retirement, preparation for retirement, and years to planned retirement age. This is particularly a timely topic as the Baby Boomer generation heads into retirement and organizations need to better understand the retirement intentions of this group. A model was developed and tested using linear regression, and results indicate that the hypothesized relationships are supported. Instituting certain OWF policies leads to older workers who are more prepared for retirement, and thus have more positive attitudes about retiring, which ultimately leads to …

A Variety Of Kinds Of Empirical Studies And A White Paper On Giving Voice To Values, William P. Ferris

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Relational Aesthetics And Emotional Relations: Leadership On Board Merchant Marine Ships, Nana Gharibyan-Kefalloniti, David Sims

Organization Management Journal

Life on board merchant marine ships is very tough, very male, and isolated from much of the rest of the world by language, culture, and usually a large expanse of sea. This article presents data that show that leadership in this environment is full of aesthetic appreciation that is often relational, arising in interaction with others’ appreciation, and also full of strongly felt emotion. Those who exercise leadership on merchant marine ships (captains, chief engineers, first officers) turn out to have strong views on the importance of understanding aesthetics and emotions in discharging their responsibilities. We illuminate these leaders’ aesthetics …