Thesis (D. Miss.)--Western Seminary, Portland, OR, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 327-334).

The international community has seen a dramatic increase in the complexity of aid operations, with increasing numbers of donors participating in humanitarian aid endeavors. Therefore, it is essential to determine factors that contribute to successful aid delivery. In an effort to guide more effective and efficient aid operations, this study investigated organizational culture in three distinct types of humanitarian organizations: (a) the U.S. military, (b) the International Federation of the Red Cross, and (c) a sampling of local and indigenous non-governmental organizations. Being a relatively unexplored area, this study took an exploratory approach, utilizing qualitative methods to analyze humanitarian aid efforts. Organization types were evaluated as individual case studies, consisting of in-depth interviewing, naturalistic observer studies, and reviews of records and reports. The study utilized the Hofstede Cultural Orientation Model as a theoretical framework to systematically compare organizational cultures. Overall, the study lends support to the general principle that organizational culture plays an important role in the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Differences in group culture emerged and were indicative of the varied cultures of prominent aid organization types. A systematic cross cultural comparison of the three aid delivery types indicate that the basic assumptions and beliefs that guide humanitarian organizations vary greatly, affecting how organizations act and interact with others. Findings yielded support for collaborative efforts, while also highlighting differences in policy and practice. The study also identified areas of cultural divergence, allowing for a clearer understanding of differing aid delivery methods, organizational decision making, and the affect on collaboration. Findings stress the importance of bridging organizational differences more effectively. These findings come almost ten years after Hurricane Mitch, countless pledges to humanitarianism and the determination of the need for collaboration. Yet results indicate that the international community continues to grapple with many of the same issues, highlighting the need for better communication, unity of effort, and strengthening of relationships between the military and the NGO community. Findings also suggest the need for further research, changes in policy and practice and a call to action.

Over the years, a number of studies have identified the failure of expatriates - the early termination of an international assignment - as a major problem for multinational enterprises (MNE). MNE's in, for example the USA, have reported expatriate failure rates as high as 40 percent for assignments to developed countries and 70 percent when assignments are in developing countries. These failures can cost the MNE three times the expatriates' annual salary plus the cost of the relocation. Even if an expatriate stays the full duration of an international assignment it has been determined that many, as much as 50 percent, operate at less than optimal levels of productivity. International studies have, however shown that if expatriates are properly prepared, supported and trained, the success of their assignment can be ensured. The presented study focuses on the effectiveness of the orientation process and crosscultural training (CCT) and its impact on cross-cultural adjustment for the expatriate. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the orientation process for expatriates and to determine a need for a separate orientation and culture training. By improving the orientation process and identifying a need for culture specific training, the company can thus eliminate relocation and replacement costs. A further objective of this research is to design a guideline for the implementation of a culture specific orientation process for the expatriate. This will be done based on the recommendations made by the candidates questioned. In order to determine the preparation and training needs of expatriates this formal study was undertaken, consisting of a literature study as well as an empirical study. At first a literature study was conducted in order to determine what was happening internationally in respect to expatriation and expatriation preparation and training. The background of the study reviews what has been written and said in the areas of cross-cultural training, cross-cultural adjustment, the orientation process and the expatriate. The study highlights specific issues regarding cultural training, assignment failure and success, and the expatriate experience. The research is motivated by the need to reduce assignment failure and the subsequent costs associated with expatriation, and ensure smooth transition into a new culture. The research methodology utilized was qualitative, based on e-mailed questionnaires and personal interviews. The study attempts to recommend, based on the findings, a culture centred orientation process for the expatriate. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.

For many years, government backed reports have continued to deplore the poor performance of the construction industry with many projects failing to exceed or live up to the expectations of clients. There is a common belief that the culture of the construction industry is one of the factors that has an impact on its performance. The culture of the construction industry at the project level is often associated with such attributes as fragmentation, antagonism, mistrust, poor communication, short-term mentality, blame culture, casual approaches to recruitment, machismo and sexism. These attributes are in turn associated with project outcomes like litigation, poor health and safety performance, and inferior quality. Whilst such associations are helpful to the extent that they focus attention on the failings of the industry, and point to aspects that need to be improved, they are arbitrary and often based on no more than anecdotal evidence, and as such do not provide a systematic basis for assessing the real impact of culture on performance. This research was thus undertaken to look for empirical evidence of a relationship between cultural orientations and project performance outcomes. Adopting social cognitive theory and defining culture as the unique configuration of solutions – embodied in attitudes, behaviours and conditions – that a construction project organisation and its members adopt in dealing with problems at the project level, a quantitative research methodology was employed in investigating the culture within the project coalition, also referred to in this thesis as the construction project organisation (CPO). CPOs were profiled to determine their cultural orientations. Several project performance indicators were also assessed and the relationships between these performance measures and the cultural orientations were examined. Analysis revealed five principal dimensions of culture along which project organisations differ. These dimensions are workforce orientation, performance orientation, team orientation, client orientation and project orientation. With the exception of performance and client orientation, the other dimensions of culture were found to be significantly associated with project performance outcomes. These associations were modelled using multiple regression, and from these models it can be inferred inter alia that projects with higher workforce orientation have better participant satisfaction and innovation and learning outcomes. Projects with higher team orientation have better participant satisfaction and health & safety and quality outcomes. Likewise projects with higher project orientation have better health & safety and quality outcomes. Although causality cannot be assumed, these findings support the thesis that culture matters. It is therefore recommended that project participants – and in particular contractors, devote more effort and resources towards improving the orientations of their CPOs in respect of the dimensions of culture identified as having significant association with project performance outcomes, particularly workforce, team and project orientations.

Thesis (PhDBusinessandManagement)--University of South Australia, 2003.

It is now well recognised that an effective service recovery program is an essential part of firms??? service quality programs and critical to generating customer satisfaction and loyalty. A number of studies have investigated the impact of service recovery efforts (compensation, speed of response, etc.) on post-recovery satisfaction, mostly in Western countries. However, despite the importance of global markets, very few have examined how Eastern consumers react to service recovery efforts. Furthermore, none have examined the impact of cultural value orientation (cultural values measured at the individual level) in implementing effective service recovery programs. This is one of the few studies that have attempted to avoid the ecological fallacy, i.e., assume all consumers within a country are culturally homogeneous. Based on Justice Theory, this research conducted in Thailand, employed an experimental design to investigate how customer evaluations of service recovery efforts are influenced by interplay of the consumer???s cultural value orientation and service recovery attributes (apology, compensation, cognitive control, recovery initiation, and formality). The results reveal that cultural values of power distance, uncertainty avoidance and collectivism do indeed interact with a firm???s recovery tactics to influence perceptions of justice. In other words, the impact of a firm???s tactics is culturally dependent, and consumer expectations and perceptions of service recovery efforts vary, depending on customers??? cultural value orientation. Finally, all three forms of justice (distributive, procedural, interactional) along with disconfirmation of expectations, positively impact on overall service recovery satisfaction. Unlike previous studies, we found evidence to indicate that there is a temporal sequence associated with the three justice dimensions i.e., interactional and procedural justice precede and thus impact perception of distributive (outcome) justice. The results have implication for marketing theory as well as managerial action.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-121).

Thesis (M. A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 1996. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [60]-62).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1996. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Florence McCarthy. Dissertation Committee: Maryalice Mazzara. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 272-285).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Erskine Theological Seminary, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-170).