abstract: The Civil Rights Project estimates that Black girls are among the least likely to graduate from high school. More specifically, only about half, or 56%, of freshman Black girls graduate with their class four years later. Beyond the statistics little is known about Black girls who drop out, why they leave school and what happens to them once they are gone. This study is a grounded theory analysis of the stories eight adult Black women told about dropping out of high school with a particular focus on how dropping out affected their lives as workers, mothers and returners to education. There is one conclusion about dropping out and another about Black female identity. First, the women in my study were adolescents during the 1980s, experienced life at the intersection of Blackness, womaness, and poverty and lived in the harsh conditions of a Black American hyperghetto. Using a synthesis between intersectionality and hyperghettoization I found that the women were so determined to improve their economic and personal conditions that they took on occupations that seemed to promise freedom, wealth and safety. Because they were so focused on their new lives, their school attendance suffered as a consequence. In the second conclusion I argued that Black women draw their insights about Black female identity from two competing sources. The two sources are their lived experience and popular controlling images of Black female identity. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011

abstract: This study explored the phenomenon of student affairs professionals working at Arizona State University who shifted from a student affairs unit to perform similar work in an academic unit. The conceptual framework for this exploration was social identity theory (Tajfel, 1974), which asserts that individuals develop a self-concept or image that derives, in part, from her/his membership in a group or groups. This qualitative study utilized in-person interviews to capture raw data from four purposeful participants, and a software package (NVivo 9) aided in the grounded theory approach to data analysis (Charmaz, 2006). The study found that participants placed a high value on the college-centric approach to their student affairs work, but they still identified as student affairs professionals working inside the academic unit. Findings are useful to: supervisors who have an interest in the professional development and personal well-being of staff; faculty and administrators of master's and doctoral degree programs designed to prepare student affairs professionals; associations that serve student affairs professionals; higher education leaders engaged in organizational change; and higher education administrators interested in the roles of individual biases and values in organizations. This study will interest student affairs professionals making the shift from a student affairs unit to an academic unit, and it will inform the researcher's own practice and career development through his investigation of his own organization. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2012

Plataformas de mídia social têm possibilitado que indivíduos produzam, compartilhem e distribuam seu conteúdo, facilmente, pela Internet – interagindo com outros indivíduos e firmas. Atualmente, qualquer pessoa pode ter seu próprio jornal (blog), rádio (podcast) ou canal de TV (YouTube) e construir uma audiência. Redes sociais, como Facebook e Twitter, permitem que as pessoas espalhem o boca-a-boca ainda mais. Neste novo ambiente social, consumidores tornaram-se ativos produtores – influenciando seus pares, criticando produtos/serviços, co-desenvolvendo suas próprias soluções, etc. Finalmente, as firmas se deram conta de que deviam aprender como fazer uso de mídia social para participar das conversas, acessar conhecimentos externos e tentar co-criar algum valor. Mas como o uso destas plataformas de mídia social pela firma para co-criação com consumidores pode influenciar seus processos de negócio? Para responder a essa questão, este estudo utilizou dois métodos de pesquisa qualitativos interpretativos – netnografia e grounded theory – para explorar dados públicos disponíveis em plataformas de mídia social. A pesquisa empírica investigou um ecossistema de mídia social no setor de transporte aéreo. Como resultados, este estudo apresenta: um conjunto de categorias inter-relacionadas que emergiram dos dados empíricos; descrições de campo; e hipóteses teóricas propostas a respeito deste processo de co-criação no setor de transporte aéreo e suas implicações. Resultados indicam que três tipos de co-criação em plataformas de mídia social (co-criação de experiências online, de marca em tempo real e de conhecimento sobre produtos/serviços) influenciam positivamente a integração de capacidades/conhecimentos dos consumidores aos processos de negócio da empresa (como relacionamento com clientes, suporte, relações públicas, propaganda e desenvolvimento de produtos/serviços), enquanto a falta destes tipos de co-criação pode influenciar negativamente a efetividade destes processos de negócio. / Social media platforms have enabled individuals to easily produce, share and distribute their own content over the Intenet – interacting with other individuals and firms. Currently, anyone may have his own newspaper (blog), radio (podcast) or TV channel (YouTube) and build an audience. Social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, allow people to spread the word of mouth even further. In this new social environment, consumers became active producers - influencing their peers, criticizing bad products/services, codeveloping their own solutions, etc. Eventually, firms found out that they must learn how to use social media to become part of the conversation, access external knowledge and try to cocreate some value. But how could firm’s usage of social media platforms to co-create with consumers influence its business processes? In order to answer to that question, this study used two qualitative interpretive research methods – netnography and grounded theory – to explore public data available on social media platforms. The empirical research investigated a social media ecosystem of the air travel industry. As results, this study presents: a set of interrelated categories that emerged from empirical data; field descriptions; and the theoretical hypothesis regarding the co-creation process in air travel industry and its implications. Results show that three types of co-creation using social media platforms (online experiences cocreation, brand real-time co-creation and products/services knowledge co-creation) positively influence customers’ capabilities/knowledge integration to firms’ business processes (such as customers relationship, support, public relations, advertising, products/services development) - while the lack of those types of co-creation may negatively influence those business processes effectivity.

Workplace bullying is a sensitive issue and a psychological terror in the workplace, with severe effects on employees’ and organisations’ health, dignity, employee relations, and wellbeing. As a vital link between different constituencies in the organisation, human resource (HR) practitioners face many challenges in their attempt to address and manage workplace bullying, while simultaneously striving to promote employee wellbeing and positive employee relations. This study endeavoured to explore workplace bullying from the point of view of HR practitioners tasked with identifying and dealing with bullying in the workplace, and to develop a substantive theory of workplace bullying from their perspectives. The empirical study, conducted in two tertiary institutions in South Africa, employed grounded theory as a methodological approach with nine HR practitioners selected by non-probability purposive sampling, which is congruent with a grounded theory methodology. Selection criteria were applied to sample participants on the basis of relevance and acceptability. A qualitative, constructivist grounded theory research design was used to explore HR practitioners’ perspectives on workplace bullying with data gathered by means of in-depth interviews and official documents to gain insight and understanding of their experiences of workplace bullying. In-depth interviews were audio-recorded and data transcribed verbatim, analysed and interpreted using grounded theory coding strategies, memo writing and theoretical sampling. Findings were supported by verbatim quotes and a literature review. The study proposes a substantive workplace bullying theory and a conceptual workplace bullying framework to guide organisations and highlight the practical value for empowering the HR practitioners. It addresses the need to manage workplace bullying in the organisation and help management be more knowledgeable about bullying, effectively fostering a zero-tolerance culture. The study revealed that the HR practitioner’s role is torn between a responsibility to the business goals and management, and to support and championing the case of the targets in potential bullying situations. It should contribute to the limited body of knowledge on HR practitioners’ perspectives on workplace bullying within the South African context. / Psychology / D.Phil. (Philosophy)

The aim of this research was to develop a substantive grounded theory describing the process of change and the management of organizational inertia, or resistance to change, by strategic leaders transitioning churches from a programme-based to a cell-based model. The grounded theory was developed using the conventions of the Straussian version of the grounded theory method, and relying largely upon the collection of incidents through interviews with leaders of churches that embarked upon the cell-church transition. In all, 38 interviews were conducted with leaders of churches representing a range of denominations located in a number of provinces in South Africa. Based on the premise that substantive theories are contextually bound rather than context free, the contextual characteristics of this study are highlighted. Drawing from organizational theory, it is recognised that churches can be conceptualised as solidary organizations, normative organizations, congregations and voluntary organizations or associations. Viewing churches as solidary organizations highlights the role of solidary rewards in the change process, while viewing them as congregations, emphasises their religious character. Furthermore, the context of the study is embedded in the nature of the specific type of change being embarked upon, as represented by the cell-church transition. Drawing on concepts derived from the change management literature, the type of change I investigated, I classified as intangible, episodic, teleological, second-order change, highlighting the importance of social interaction. The grounded theory that was constructed describes the phases of the change process, and how the actions of leaders interact with the sense of community of the church. Three effective patterns of leadership were identified (i.e. the freewheeler, the focused-pioneer and the reflexive-accommodator) along with their ineffective counterparts (i.e. the static non-leader, the rigid combatant and the popular people pleaser). It was argued that effective leadership involves balancing the three effective patterns over time, and that a failure to achieve this balance produced an ineffective pattern. Furthermore, ineffective leadership damaged the credibility of leaders, as their actions harmed the sense of community. A loss of credibility compromised the leader’s ability to lead change. A number of approaches to understanding organizational inertia or resistance to change were examined in an attempt to locate the grounded theory in the literature and to use the literature to shed light on the findings of this study. While this literature did provide some useful insights and confirmations, no single theoretical perspective seemed to supply a comprehensive explanation. Instead, social capital theory offered a more encompassing explanation, and as such, showed much promise as a body of literature that can be used to develop an understanding of organizational change. Finally, recommendations are made for future research and the value of this research is discussed.

O presente estudo teve por objetivo analisar a influência do conteúdo de divulgação científica publicado pelo canal Minutos Psíquicos do YouTube sobre a formação do capital social. O objeto de estudo foi analisado com o aporte da Teoria Fundamentada, uma ferramenta metodológica que tem sido recomendada por pesquisadores brasileiros e estrangeiros para o estudo das mídias sociais e das redes sociais na internet. O corpus de análise foi constituído pelo vídeo mais popular do canal selecionado e pelos comentários relacionados. Para a análise dos comentários foram utilizadas as três técnicas de codificação da Teoria Fundamentada: a codificação aberta, a codificação axial e a codificação seletiva. Ao final da pesquisa, foram identificadas três práticas discursivas que contribuem para a formação do capital social e de valores relacionados no contexto de estudo: a autoexpressão, as reações do canal e o suporte social. As formas de capital social que apareceram com maior frequência são o capital relacional, o capital cognitivo e a confiança no ambiente social. Porém, também foi possível constatar a presença do capital normativo e de indícios do capital institucional. Entre os valores construídos pelos usuários em suas práticas discursivas estão a visibilidade, a legitimação e o suporte social. Esse último merece destaque por perpassar todas as categorias principais. O intercâmbio de informações foi uma prática pouco expressiva naquele contexto. Por fim, conclui-se que o conteúdo publicado pelo canal funciona como um vetor para as diferentes formas de comportamento social que contribuem para a formação do capital social. / The objective of this study was to analyze the influence of the content of scientific divulgation published by YouTube Minutos Psíquicos channel on the formation of social capital. The object of study was analyzed with the contribution of Grounded Theory, a methodological tool that has been recommended by Brazilian and foreign researchers for the study of social media and social networks on the internet. The analysis corpus consisted of the most popular video of the selected channel and related comments. For the analysis of the comments the three coding techniques of the Grounded Theory were used: open coding, axial coding and selective coding. At the end of the research, three discursive practices were identified that contribute to the formation of social capital and related values in the study context: self-expression, channel reactions and social support. The forms of social capital that have appeared most often are relational, cognitive, and trustworthiness of social environment. However, it was also possible to verify the presence of normative capital and evidence of institutional capital. Among the values built by the users in their discursive practices are visibility, legitimation and social support. The latter deserves special mention because it covers all the main categories. The information exchange was not very expressive in that context. Finally, it is concluded that the content published by the channel works as a vector for the different forms of social behavior that contribute to the formation of social capital.

Plataformas de mídia social têm possibilitado que indivíduos produzam, compartilhem e distribuam seu conteúdo, facilmente, pela Internet – interagindo com outros indivíduos e firmas. Atualmente, qualquer pessoa pode ter seu próprio jornal (blog), rádio (podcast) ou canal de TV (YouTube) e construir uma audiência. Redes sociais, como Facebook e Twitter, permitem que as pessoas espalhem o boca-a-boca ainda mais. Neste novo ambiente social, consumidores tornaram-se ativos produtores – influenciando seus pares, criticando produtos/serviços, co-desenvolvendo suas próprias soluções, etc. Finalmente, as firmas se deram conta de que deviam aprender como fazer uso de mídia social para participar das conversas, acessar conhecimentos externos e tentar co-criar algum valor. Mas como o uso destas plataformas de mídia social pela firma para co-criação com consumidores pode influenciar seus processos de negócio? Para responder a essa questão, este estudo utilizou dois métodos de pesquisa qualitativos interpretativos – netnografia e grounded theory – para explorar dados públicos disponíveis em plataformas de mídia social. A pesquisa empírica investigou um ecossistema de mídia social no setor de transporte aéreo. Como resultados, este estudo apresenta: um conjunto de categorias inter-relacionadas que emergiram dos dados empíricos; descrições de campo; e hipóteses teóricas propostas a respeito deste processo de co-criação no setor de transporte aéreo e suas implicações. Resultados indicam que três tipos de co-criação em plataformas de mídia social (co-criação de experiências online, de marca em tempo real e de conhecimento sobre produtos/serviços) influenciam positivamente a integração de capacidades/conhecimentos dos consumidores aos processos de negócio da empresa (como relacionamento com clientes, suporte, relações públicas, propaganda e desenvolvimento de produtos/serviços), enquanto a falta destes tipos de co-criação pode influenciar negativamente a efetividade destes processos de negócio. / Social media platforms have enabled individuals to easily produce, share and distribute their own content over the Intenet – interacting with other individuals and firms. Currently, anyone may have his own newspaper (blog), radio (podcast) or TV channel (YouTube) and build an audience. Social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, allow people to spread the word of mouth even further. In this new social environment, consumers became active producers - influencing their peers, criticizing bad products/services, codeveloping their own solutions, etc. Eventually, firms found out that they must learn how to use social media to become part of the conversation, access external knowledge and try to cocreate some value. But how could firm’s usage of social media platforms to co-create with consumers influence its business processes? In order to answer to that question, this study used two qualitative interpretive research methods – netnography and grounded theory – to explore public data available on social media platforms. The empirical research investigated a social media ecosystem of the air travel industry. As results, this study presents: a set of interrelated categories that emerged from empirical data; field descriptions; and the theoretical hypothesis regarding the co-creation process in air travel industry and its implications. Results show that three types of co-creation using social media platforms (online experiences cocreation, brand real-time co-creation and products/services knowledge co-creation) positively influence customers’ capabilities/knowledge integration to firms’ business processes (such as customers relationship, support, public relations, advertising, products/services development) - while the lack of those types of co-creation may negatively influence those business processes effectivity.

This thesis was in collaboration with Saab AB Aeronautics and aimed to investigate the information requirements at Saab AB, and then to write at least one software specification for something that could facilitate planning and/or evaluation of flight missions. Today, different support systems are used at Saab AB to help with planning and evaluation of flight missions. The most commonly used is the Mission Support System, but systems external to Saab AB such as applications for tablets are also used. Through semi-structured interviews and an analysis of the interviews based on the Grounded Theory approach several ideas for what could be done to facilitate planning and/or evaluation emerged. Two ideas were looked closer at; a statistical overview over missions implemented in the Mission Support System and an integration of an external program called SkyDemon and the Mission Support System. The statistical conclusions could help with getting an easier overview over one or several missions, which facilitates evaluation and how to forward information about the mission. To integrate SkyDemon with the MSS is something that tries to fulfill the wishes about accessibility and having everything at the same place, making the planning of missions run easier and faster.

Play is the primary activity of childhood. It is connected to other areas of child’s development, therefore through play, children improve skills and abilities. The most common categorization of play is into the developmental and social aspect of play. The highest level of play is achieved when the true social play occurs. The ideal setting for social play to occur is early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions. ECEC in Croatia is striving for inclusion of children with difficulties/special needs, as stated in Croatian ECEC leading documents. In this study, these children will be referred to as children in need of special support since is perceived that name reflects the bio-psycho-social model of disability that recognizes issues in child´s functioning, apart from the child itself, coming from the environment. All the services, for children in need of special support, including ECEC are disability-based. It has been found that children in need of special support experience problems during play which affects other domains of development. The purpose of the study is to investigate play of children in need of special support and the factors, i.e., facilitators and barriers for their play. Play of the children in need of special support is chosen to be explored through the perception of their parents and educators with the use of the grounded theory approach. After collecting data through interviews and preformed data analysis, characteristics of play children in need of special support display together with the factors that affect play positively or negatively emerged. Factors were found to affect children’s play directly or indirectly. The most outstanding facilitators for children’s play were found to be the parents’ and educators’ actions and attitudes regarding the importance of play. The most substantial barriers were found to lie in the children’s characteristics concerning play which were tended to be perceived as consequences of their difficulties and diagnosis-based educational and social systems. Furthermore, the schooling system forcing ECEC institutions to focus on early preparedness for academic success, putting play aside emerged as a notable barrier for the play.

Submitted by ILTON MARCHI DE ALMEIDA null (ilton.marchi@embraer.com.br) on 2017-07-19T21:27:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 PROPOSTA DE USO INTEGRADO DOS MÉTODOS SCRUM E CCPM NA GESTÃO DE MÚLTIPLOS PROJETOS.pdf: 3336782 bytes, checksum: cc1ec4213afdacfef036c01ce401ea13 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Monique Sasaki (sayumi_sasaki@hotmail.com) on 2017-07-20T17:48:17Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 almeida_im_me_bauru.pdf: 3336782 bytes, checksum: cc1ec4213afdacfef036c01ce401ea13 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-20T17:48:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 almeida_im_me_bauru.pdf: 3336782 bytes, checksum: cc1ec4213afdacfef036c01ce401ea13 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-30 / A Gestão de Projetos (GP) ganhou papel de destaque na viabilidade dos objetivos estratégicos das organizações. O desenvolvimento de produtos e serviços vem recebendo forte pressão do mercado, demandante de lançamentos frequentes e em prazos cada vez menores. Para atender estas novas exigências, a GP deve prover informações úteis para tomadas de decisões em ambientes de múltiplos e complexos projetos, sujeitos a relevantes incertezas e volatilidade. Considerando as oportunidades de melhoria das práticas da GP para lidar com este ambiente instável e ambíguo, o objetivo deste trabalho é propor, utilizando o método de Teoria Fundamentada em Dados (TFD), um framework que prescreva como aplicar de forma combinada dois métodos de GP: a Gestão de Projetos por Corrente Crítica (Critical Chain Project Management - CCPM) e o Scrum. Os resultados obtidos por este trabalho apontam que a integração destes métodos pode potencializar os benefícios e atenuar as fragilidades de cada uma delas em particular, e cujo uso articulado e coordenado pode permitir decisões mais efetivas em ambientes voláteis, incertos, complexos e ambíguos (VUCA - Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) de múltiplos projetos. / Project Management (PM) has gained a major role in the viability of the strategic objectives of organizations. The development of products and services has been under stronger market pressure, requesting frequent releases and in ever-shorter periods. To meet these new requirements, initiatives for maintaining PM as an information provider to make decisions in multiple and complex projects, exposed to relevant uncertainty and volatility, should be sought. Regarding the opportunities for improvement of PM practices to deal with this unstable and ambiguous environment, the objective of this work is to propose, using the Grounded Theory (GT) method, a framework that prescribes how to apply two GP methods in combination: the Critical Chain Project Management - CCPM and Scrum. The results of this work indicate that the integration of these methodologies can enhance the benefits and mitigate the weaknesses of each of them in particular. This hybrid model could permit a better articulation and coordination of the project tasks, allowing effective decisions in multiple project environments affected by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA).