<p> The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to document the motivational factors of postmodern era volunteers and to examine how potential commonalities in philosophy, theology, and leadership styles can provide common ground for the postmodern and traditional volunteers in Christian religious organizations (CRO). The scope of the research study was limited to a traditional CRO with active Generation X and millennial generations volunteering in the organization. The specific population consisted of members of a CRO. The use of interviews, focus groups, and observations supported the holistic analysis through the triangulation of data. The data analysis followed an inductive and deductive analysis process. The results of the study provided several findings related to postmodern era generation motivation factors. The emergent themes from the research of the phenomenon were: family focus, Spiritual release, modeling religion through leadership action, leadership style, giftings, volunteer opportunities that model religion, and community leadership. The results of the case study revealed that the postmodern era generations of the CRO studied favored family focus as motivation to volunteer. Additionally, the findings demonstrated that the postmodern era volunteers believed that the commitment to join also implied a commitment to volunteer time to the organization. The findings from the study demonstrated that the actions of the outreach ministries with the community should model the educational teaching of the organization. The recommendations from this study for CRO leaders include focusing on the whole family, designing outreach tasks that support service to families and the community, and demonstrating religion through service to community.</p>

<p> The increased consumption of finite resources threatens the preservation of the environment. Environmental pioneers George Perkins Marsh, Gifford Pinchot, and Aldo Leopold were the first to address this concern in the United States. With this background, environmental sustainability in the United States has become a common consideration for public, private, and government organizations. Many organizations have implemented environmental management systems to handle environmental issues. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore what environmental sustainability programs manufacturing firms in West Michigan pursue and their motivation for doing so. Leaders from 13 West Michigan manufacturing companies were interviewed. Research questions addressed the benefits administrators perceive can be gained by adopting environmental sustainability programs, disadvantages in adopting environmental sustainability programs, and what organizations are doing to pursue environmental programs. Cost savings was cited as a major reason for pursuing sustainability programs with the lack of time and resources being the greatest restraint environmental administrators encounter. Company leadership noted that sustainability programs provided their firm a competitive advantage with many Millennial employees preferring companies that manage robust environmental programs. The sustainability strategies identified in this research can be leveraged by firms seeking to implement or improve their environmental programs.</p>

<p> This study explored organizational learning from a feminist perspective, similar to feminist critiques of organizational culture, and offers an analysis of individual&rsquo;s perceptions of gender dynamics in organizational learning. Mainstream literature on organizational learning is based upon gender-blind assumptions in theory and practice. This study examined those assumptions with a feminist lens. Constructivist epistemology, a feminist interpretive lens, and phenomenological and feminist methodologies guide this research, which asks, what does gender equal organizational learning look like? Fourteen senior leaders of a small New England college were interviewed to better understanding their experience of gender and collective learning at a small liberal arts college. Feminist analysis of the in-depth interviews revealed patterns of gender dynamics and a distinction between informal and formal organizational learning. Informal learning affected elements of formal organizational learning, raising questions about the ways culture is enacted in organizations. Gendered experiences of voice, participation, and power are among the key findings that problematize mainstream organizational learning theory and suggest that different genders have dissimilar experiences of the participatory and strategic development of their organization. This research sheds light on the emancipatory potential of organizational learning, showing the ways organizational learning is both aa reflection of the culture and a means to change culture and advance gender equality.</p>

In recent years, new regulatory guidance has spurred organizations to replace hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives. The factors and influences that shape decisions to transition to safer chemicals are of interest to decision scientists. Previous studies have examined the role that various factors, such as regulation, health impacts, and environmental impacts, have played in shaping such decisions. However, two key research gaps have been identified. First, existing semi-quantitative-based studies do not adequately capture the complexity of decision-making. Second, no in-depth qualitative study of a current substitution process, elucidating decision-making mechanisms at various stages of the design process, has yet been performed. The current research addresses these gaps. The first component of the study is an extensive survey of product and chemical manufacturers to elicit potential tradeoffs concerning final product design and redesign decisions. Such tradeoffs are characterized by a set of six factors affecting product design, which are further disaggregated into thirty-three attributes distributed across these factors. Statistical methods including Bayesian Dirichlet modeling and Principal Component Analysis were used to show: 1) two factors were statistically significantly different than other factors, 2) how features such as company size and time of decision affected factor weighting, and 3) that nine principal components explain 79% of the variance in the attribute scores. The second component of the study was a phenomenological assessment of a current substitution process: replacement of cadmium with Zn-Ni for aircraft components, undertaken by the U.S. Navy and Air Force. This study synthesized existing research in cognition, decision-making, and knowledge management. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants representing engineering, environmental, safety, and management disciplines. Qualitative analysis was used to identify and characterize the underlying mechanisms guiding the decision process, including external/internal influences, organizational structure and inertia, and innovative team problem solving. The results from this research contribute to theoretical knowledge in decision-making and cognition, as well as practical knowledge for organizations and policymakers. The broader implications of this research study include a realization that decision tradeoffs vary based on decision contexts, indicating that sector-specific future policy and guidance efforts are needed.

To determine how leading companies in North America, Europe, and Asia develop and sustain strong talent pipelines, this research investigates talent management processes and practices in a sample of 37 multinational corporations, selected on the basis of their international scope, reputation, and long-term performance. In-depth case studies and a Web-based survey of human resources professionals identify various effective practices that can help companies attract, select, develop, and retain talent. However, the results suggest that competitive advantage comes not primarily from designing and implementing best practices but rather from the proper internal alignment of various elements of a company's talent management system, as well as their embeddedness in the value system of the firm, their links to business strategy, and their global coordination.