<p> The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to examine the significance of participation in a six-session innovation training program on participants&rsquo; perceived creative behaviors in a military research and development organization in eastern Maryland. This study included an introduction and background of the problem, thorough literature review, declaration of design and methodology, data collection and analysis, and presentation of the findings. Data collection included an online qualitative survey of past program participants, theoretical literature, and innovation training course materials. The survey responses showed evidence through individuals&rsquo; perceptions, beliefs, and lived experiences that may encourage leadership to utilize innovation-training programs and similar creative behavior training to improve organizational culture, communication, and experience. Four common themes emerged through data analysis relative to influencing creative behaviors as follows: Essential to Innovation, Applicable to Daily Activities and Organization, New Skills and Methodologies Learned, and Significant Perceptions and Beliefs. These themes were analyzed to formulate responses to the guiding research questions of this study. The data presented in this study has shown the potential value of innovation training by presenting both positive and negative outcomes, allowing leaders to understand current issues with organizational creative behaviors, and the potential opportunity to bolster these behaviors through innovation training. Organizational leaders have an opportunity to potentially utilize innovation training as a means of reinforcing or improving the quality and productivity of organizational innovative projects through enhancing individual perception in areas including critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration and team building, and creativity and innovation.</p><p>

This study was designed to analyze the sources of revenue, revenue variability, program and personnel changes, and the fiscal soundness of six Latino nonprofit organizations (LNPOs) in three major cities in Western Massachusetts, for the period 1989 to 1992. Income variability was assessed for the period 1985 to 1992. Contingency or adaptive theory formed the basis of the study, with emphasis on organizational uncertainty, and the concepts of complexity and chaos. Contingency theory holds that there is no best way to organize, and that any way of organizing is not equally effective. The review of the literature was exhaustive and presented an analysis of the history, economic impact, and relationship of both LNPOs and non-LNPOs with the modern welfare state. IRS Form 990 and Form PC, filed by the six LNPOs with the Public Charities Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General, was the source of the data for this study. The study concluded that the aggregate reliance of LNPOs on government sources of revenue was 79.5 percent. Diversity of the funding base of these LNPOs was very limited. The average rate of revenue increase for 67 percent of these LNPOs ranged from 14 percent to 72.3 percent. The influence of revenue variability on the program mix and primary personnel was not as conclusive. Revenue increases correlated more with salary increases of primary personnel than with increases in the number of programs. Revenue increases correlated with salary increases of the rank and file for four of the six LNPOs. Fifty percent of the LNPOs in the study were rated as fiscally sound. None of the six LNPOs had contingency reserves and endowment funds. The most compelling recommendations for improving the infrastructures of these LNPOs include: the expansion of their funding base; the establishment of contingency reserves and endowment funds; effect changes in management and in governance; improve technology; and develop partnership with area colleges and universities for developing degree programs for managers of NPOs, and programs and workshops aimed at providing technological assistance to LNPOs.

This study is concerned with the impact of two simultaneous trends in American business. The first is that work teams have become increasingly popular in the workplace (Miller, 1991). The second is that increasing cultural diversity is a demographic fact in the current and future workforce (Johnston and Packer, 1987). On the basis of these trends, this study presumes that work teams are becoming more culturally diverse and that research is needed on how work group dynamics may be affected by cultural differences. The specific goal of this study is twofold. First, to determine whether members of a culturally diverse work group felt that others in the group treated them differently because of their cultural background. The second object is to determine if those people in question felt that cultural differences (in a group or as a whole) interfered with the group's ability to work together. To achieve this goal, I interviewed five white men, three African American men, four Latino men and four white women from four different types of work groups. Past research has suggested that cooperative teamwork minimizes cultural tensions within a culturally diverse group. However, despite participants perceiving their teams as cooperative, the men of color in their twenties and thirties and all the white women experienced ongoing harassment and exclusion because of their culture. These participants perceived a relationship between their cultural group membership and their work group's dynamics. The two older men of color (over age forty-five) did not claim to have experienced harassment or exclusion.

This study examined the work experience of a selected group of business executives by extending to the executive role the debate over paradigm commensurability that is taking place in the organization literature. The study set out to answer two meta-questions. These were: (MQ1) Can executives be multi-paradigmatic? (MQ2) What are the epistemological issues that need to be resolved so we can find out? This study used Burrell & Morgan's (1979) sociological paradigms framework and a research method that appeared to be compatible, Bougon's (1983) Self-Q Method. Four top level business executives were interviewed individually in Puerto Rico and New Jersey. The data generated was then analyzed through the lenses of each paradigm in Burrell and Morgan's (1979) framework. The researcher positioned herself in each one of the paradigms and analyzed the data through the lenses of the paradigms. The first analysis covers the two paradigms status quo paradigms: interpretive and functionalist. For the interpretive analysis, life history techniques were used. For the functionalist analysis techniques associated with grounded theory were used first (Strauss, 1987). The data was then submitted to a cluster analysis. The second analysis covers the two critical paradigms. From the radical humanist paradigm, the researcher reexamined the analysis of the interpretive paradigm from a critical perspective. Particular attention was given to the notion of self created entrapments. The radical structuralist analysis focused on the systemic contradictions embedded in corporate life. The analysis was based on a reanalysis of the findings of the functionalist paradigms. In relation to the appropriateness of the Self-Q Method for multiple paradigms research, it was found that the method is a point of departure for multiparadigmatic analysis. The method as used, however, is not sufficient. It is recommended that complementary techniques be used in future studies.

<p> Small business owners face challenges associated with leading change, and many times lack the necessary resources to manage it properly. The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study was to determine what challenges leaders of small businesses face in managing change, what strategies and practices those leaders employ, and how the leaders of small businesses measure success in managing change. This study also determined what advice leaders of small businesses would suggest for managing change. Four research questions were created to assist with this process, and 13 semi-structured interviews were conducted in various cities throughout the state of Michigan. The participants were small business owners of privately held American companies that had been in business for a minimum of 5 years. Twelve interview questions were asked to answer the 4 research questions. Many themes emerged. Some of the challenges that participants face while managing change are resistance to change, communication issues, lack of confidence, lack of resources, lack of knowledge/experience, absence of strategy, conflicts of interest, and lack of emotional intelligence. The participants shared many different strategies for successful management of change and also offered their lessons learned over the years. The main overall theme presented by all of the participants in this study was the importance of knowledge and experience for management of change in small businesses.</p>

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Bern, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.100-108).

Research Project (M.B.A.) - Simon Fraser University, 2006. / Theses (Faculty of Business Administration) / Simon Fraser University. Senior supervisor : Dr. Jennifer C. Chang. MBA-MKTG Specialist Program.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Instructional Systems, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Oct. 6, 2009). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-02, Section: A, page: 0544. Adviser: Elizabeth Boling.

<p>Abstract The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore how department chairs described the influence of recent corporate ethics scandals on content and availability of ethics education in postsecondary business schools in Arizona. The following research questions guided this study: RQ1: How do department chairs describe the influence of recent corporate ethics scandals on the content of ethics education in postsecondary business schools in Arizona? RQ2: How do department chairs describe the influence of recent corporate ethics scandals on the availability of ethics education in postsecondary business schools in Arizona? RQ3: How do department chairs feel that ethics education can be improved in postsecondary business schools in Arizona? R4: How have postsecondary business schools in the state of Arizona changed their ethics curriculum in response to recent corporate ethics scandals? The sample for this study was 9 department chairs out of 40 in postsecondary schools in Arizona that offer business degrees. It was important for the purpose of this study to focus on department chairs, because of their direct involvement in the management of their business degree programs (i.e., design and accreditation of required curriculum), faculty, and business schools. The Hosmer and Kiewitz managerial ethics theory provided the foundation of this research. The data analysis procedure chosen was the thematic analysis from the triangulation of three data sources. The results found that a higher number of participants perceived that recent corporate ethics scandals did have an influence on content and availability of ethics education. Keywords: ethics, education, business, management, Arizona, scandal, corporate, social responsibility, post-secondary education