This study analyzed the relationship between stressful work environments, physical fitness, and employee well-being, and proposed the “survival of the fittest” model. The “survival of the fittest” model was tested to determine whether physical fitness reduced the negative health outcomes of stressful work environments. Stressful work environments were framed through the job demands-control model (Karasek, 1979), and employee well-being was assessed through cardiovascular health and psychological well-being. Physical fitness was measured as cardiorespiratory endurance. Main effect and interaction effect models were tested using hierarchical regression and nonlinear structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses techniques. This study showed that employee well-being is negatively affected by current work trends. The results indicated that the interaction effect of high strain jobs (high job demands and low job control) negatively affected cardiovascular health, but not psychological well-being. Psychological well-being was negatively affected by high job demands, and low job control independently (main effects), whereas cardiovascular health was not negatively affected by these main effects. The results also indicated that fitness, when measured as a state, did not produce the hypothesized stress reducing effects, nor the expected improvements in cardiovascular health and psychological well-being. A discussion of these results includes an analysis of group differences, an evaluation of the fitness measure, and an examination of the sample population. This dissertation contributed to the occupational health and stress literature by offering conceptual and methodological improvements over past research. Specifically, I analyzed the job demands-control model through a focused measure of job control and a descriptive measure of job demands. Psychological well-being included the emotional exhaustion measure of burnout, and a measure of anxiety and depression not previously tested in this literature stream. Objective measures of cardiovascular health (blood pressure) and physical fitness (step test) were obtained, and data were gathered from a cross-sectional sample of 100 working adults. Furthermore, the application of nonlinear SEM techniques allowed for the simultaneous examination of physiological and psychological health outcomes, which provided a holistic view of the work stress and employee well-being relationship not previously found in this literature.

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>Administrators, students and faculty employed at or attending academic institutions in Florida have experienced numerous disasters in the last decade. Political pressures, financial restraints, and recent legislation has led to administrators&rsquo; at academic institutions to rely upon online education as a viable means for delivering education to students anytime and anywhere. Administrators at academic institutions have utilized online education as a way to ensure that academic continuity takes place while campuses are physically closed or are recovering from damages during and after disaster. There is a gap in the research as to how to best prepare faculty for academic continuity after disasters occur. The lack of available research regarding how faculty members at academic institutions prepared themselves prior to a disaster served as a major rationale for this study. The problem that was addressed in this phenomenological study was to identify the support needed by faculty to provide academic continuity during and after times of disaster in Florida. The purpose of the phenomenological study was to provide further knowledge and understanding of the support needed by faculty to provide academic continuity after a disaster. Data collection from this study will help human resource professionals as well as administrators of academic institutions to better prepare faculty to provide academic continuity in the future. Participants were recruited on LinkedIn and were qualified as having been faculty who taught traditional courses during disasters that occurred between 2004 and 2014 in Florida at accredited academic institutions. Faculty members were asked a series of open-ended questions to gain understanding of their experiences of how they prepared themselves for academic continuity prior to disasters. The findings from this study showed that faculty members identified assistance needed including professional development in the form of training and support, communication, and technological resources in order to provide academic continuity. The first conclusion from this study was that academic institutions need to support their students, staff and faculty with disaster training and the resources needed to provide academic continuity during and after disasters. The second conclusion from this study is that while disasters and other academic institution incidents are occurring more frequently, limited funding and the push for online education has created limited resources for academic institutions. The need to create partnerships and consortiums with other academic institutions and communities is crucial for the success and sustainability of academic institutions. Through these partnerships and consortiums academic institutions can share resources, knowledge, and training (Morris, 2013). </p>

<p> Waiters who serve alcoholic beverages at the majority of bars and restaurants in the United States are apt to serve alcohol to patrons who are visually intoxicated, notwithstanding laws prohibiting such service. Adverse effects of this practice include patron injuries, deaths, and law violations resulting in fines, incarceration, and lawsuits. Waiters not effectively trained to practice responsible alcohol retailing practices put patrons and others at risk of harm from alcohol related injuries or death. The problem is that the perceptions and attitudes of waiters who serve alcohol regarding self-learning as a strategy to prevent patron intoxication are not known; the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore these perceptions. The study utilized in-depth semi-structured interviews with 23 waiters who utilized a self-learning tool about preventing patron intoxication. The waiters perceived that this self-learning tool was a good training solution, that it would be beneficial if implemented, that the tool could be used to improve public safety, and that its specific data on patron behavior and BAC levels were helpful. The participants also indicated that there would be challenges to implementing such a tool, including the waiters&rsquo; assertiveness and social aptness. As a whole, the researcher recommended that this tool be implemented across the country to improve waiter knowledge and patron safety. For future research, the researcher recommended that the study be expanded to include the perceptions of waiters across the country, the perceptions of those who underwent this training more than a year ago, and that the learning tool be adapted for different learning styles.</p>

No description available.

<p> This study explored how citizen science programs can connect young people with nature while providing needed scientific data. The premise was that, with attention to proper design, modification of current programming might increase citizen science outcomes for conservation. Furthermore, combining sound scientific protocols with effective education and positive youth development strategies can lead to consequential benefits for youth and society. An embedded single-case study explored a set of 20 citizen science programs relevant to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine how the programs intended to educate and develop youth and to understand the programs&rsquo; designs. A theoretical framework based upon science education, environmental education, and positive youth development guided the inquiry. The study also explored how environmental educators, youth group leaders, scientists, and public land managers might work together to design and implement youth community and citizen science programs on federal lands. Study findings informed development of a prototype planning framework to guide planning and implementation of youth-focused community and citizen science programs on federal lands. Using the framework to design robust citizen science programs can assist scientists monitoring environmental conditions to inform land management decisions; and assist environmental education program coordinators to design meaningful service&ndash;learning activities for youth.</p><p>

<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>

<p> Since the first intercollegiate athletic event in 1852, a patriarchal hegemony has controlled the governance, policy making, and leadership of intercollegiate athletics. Not until 1972 did women enter the national narrative on college sports participation and administration, albeit through federal mandate and in marginal fashion. More than forty years after the passage of Title IX, intercollegiate athletics still lacks a strong female presence in executive administrative positions. The National Association of Collegiate Women Administrators (NACWAA) is the only professional organization devoted solely to developing and advancing the success of women in the profession of intercollegiate athletics. </p><p> This study examined the lived experiences of seven women athletics administrators who participated in a leadership development program, the Institute for Administrative Advancement (IAA), offered by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and NACWAA. This dissertation used hermeneutical phenomenology to qualitatively describe how IAA participants make sense of this leadership development experience. By thoroughly characterizing the meaning ascribed to the IAA experience as well as the actualization of the IAA curriculum, the results of this study characterize how participants of the NCAA/NACWAA IAA perceive a) career development and leadership and b) leadership self-efficacy. </p><p> Seven themes emerged through data analysis: 1) Discrimination is evident. Many forms of discrimination were perceived, 2) Individual perceptions of leadership were varied and dynamic, 3) Self-assessment of leadership skills evolved over the duration of the IAA, 4) Expectations of the IAA experience were modest yet hopeful, 5) Participants experienced contrasting emotional states throughout the IAA, 6) Actualization of the learned skill set resulted in a variety of outcomes, and 7) The IAA was an empowering and transformative experience.</p><p> Based on the emergent themes, implications and recommendations are offered to counterbalance the underrepresentation of women in athletic administration. The findings from this study also serve a broader application to higher education. The narratives shared by the participants can provide a pathway to empower other women and members of historically underrepresented and socially excluded groups within higher education administration toward professional advancement. </p>

Thesis (Ph. D. (Education Management))--Universiteit van Pretoria, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.