<p> With the increasing use of technology in the workplace, many jobs are becoming more sedentary. The purpose of this study was to establish a quantitative baseline measure of occupational physical activity (OPA) in active and sedentary workers. Two activity trackers (Fitbit Charge HR&trade; and Hexoskin) were used to assess activity measures (step count, heart rate and energy expenditure) among workers during their work shift. The first objective of the study was to assess the agreement between two types of accelerometer-based activity trackers as measures of OPA. The second objective of this study was to assess differences in measures of OPA among workers in physically active and sedentary work environments. There was a statistically significant difference in measures of total step counts between the two devices. When comparing active and sedentary workers there were also statistically significant differences in measures of step counts, mean percent heart rate increase, maximum heart rate range and energy expenditure. Conclusion: The Fitbit Charge HR&trade; and Hexoskin had significant differences in measures of step counts and heart rate. When comparing active and sedentary workers, there were significant differences in measures of step counts, mean heart rate, maximum heart rate range required by job, and energy expenditure. The results of the present study provide quantitative evidence that active workers require greater physiologic demands than sedentary workers.</p>

No description available.

<p> This phenomenological study examines innovative pedagogy and the integration of literature by professors in STEM, leadership, and professional programs to foster leadership. The study probes university professors&rsquo; personal experiences integrating literature, focusing on pedagogical strategies and practices. Many studies exist on the use of literature to develop empathy, analytical, or critical thinking in higher education. However, there is virtually no published research on the integration of literature in STEM, leadership, and professional programs to foster leadership skills. Existing theories on utilizing literature in the humanities also apply to its integration into STEM, leadership, and professional programs. Therefore, professors integrating literature have well-defined research on how literature fosters storytelling abilities, critical thinking, decision-making and other dimensions of leadership. Purposive sampling was used to select professors with expertise integrating literature. Individual phone and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 participants regarding the integration of literature. As a result, 636 coded passages were bracketed into 32 themes. The top three themes of the study included: (a) fosters leadership skills, (b) pedagogic strategies, and (c) Socratic Method. Two keys findings emerged. Finding 1, the integration of compelling literature developed leadership skills in next generation STEM, leadership, or professional students. Finding 2, the effective integration of literature required use of pedagogical strategies, which included: planning courses with a theoretical foundation, using guided questions for reading, and employing Socratic Method. Professors should select compelling highly regarded/relatable literary works with protagonists that make decisions and pair these literary works with other powerful autobiographies, theatrical or documentary movies/clips of the same subject matter. Recommendations include STEM, leadership, and professional programs add leadership through literature courses. These findings can be used for professional development training that center on fostering leadership skills. This study provides researchers and professors with strategies for utilizing literature to foster leadership. </p><p>

<p> Donor behavior in the non-profit organizational environment is a complex matrix of social influences that include social expectations from social media sites, direct cohort and peer influence, and perceptions of organizational performance, transparency and fundraising expenditures. A widespread general problem in non-profit organizations (NPOs) is that organizational members (cohorts) can exert an influence on the donor behavior of others, and organizational fundraising objectives can be adversely impacted. The purpose of this research was to identify those predictor characteristics that negatively influence donor behavior and would assist in minimizing costs associated with fundraising. I employed a quantitative study using a correlational design of multivariate analyses to identify a set of predictor characteristics originating from the influence of organizational cohorts on donor behavior. This study used a modified original survey to collect data from 244 non-randomized participants from the State of Colorado who donated to non-profit organizations (NPOs) in the last year. </p><p> A series of backward regressions produced five statistically significant models that showed positive correlations among the fifteen dependent variables that were included in the survey. In addition, the statistical evidence (p >.001) provided additional support for the three alternate hypotheses in all three research questions. In this study, I attempt to provide correlations that serve as predictor characteristics of cohort influence in the non-profit organizational environment. This data also provides additional information on donation behavior patterns for the three-key areas of interest: Donation Amounts, donation frequency, and volunteer hours. Additional research across other demographic and geographic areas is recommended.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative exploratory multiple case study is to explore what influence lifestyle polygraph screening hiring requirements have on federal government agencies to attract Millennial applicants in the Washington D.C. area. The broad theoretical framework under which this research study falls includes Maslow&rsquo;s hierarchy of needs theory, generational theory, the social cognitive theory, and the social exclusion theory. Data collection for this research study involved conducting semi-structured interviews with thirteen members of the Millennial Generation and thirteen former federal government hiring managers in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The interview data was entered into NVIVO 11 for data mining and categorization. This resulted in the establishment of common themes about the perceptions of Millennials and former federal government hiring managers about the lifestyle polygraph hiring requirement. The results of the study concluded that the lifestyle polygraph hiring requirement is not a deterring factor on the ability of federal government agencies to attract Millennial applicants. However, the lifestyle polygraph hiring requirement was found to be a deterrent in achieving federal government employment objectives in hiring Millennials. This study provided organizational leaders and managers with empirical data for evaluating and effecting potential hiring process changes. Recommendations for future areas of research include reassessing drug test requirements, exploration of potential polygraph examiner bias, and early intervention marketing at the middle and high school levels.</p><p>

This research explores methods to improve code of conduct effectiveness. Misconduct is a common phenomenon in the business environment, even in the face of increased regulation, and the adoption of codes of conduct by organisations. This impacts negatively on organisations’ reputations, results in financial loss, and has a negative impact on the sustainability of businesses. While researchers suggest that codes of conduct should reduce misconduct and improve the ethical culture of organisations, mixed research results suggest codes of conduct are not always effective. While research into code of conduct effectiveness proliferates, seldom does such research take a holistic approach to understanding effectiveness of codes of conduct. Models proposed to better research code of conduct effectiveness, such as Kaptein and Schwartz’ (2008) integrated research model, do not present guidelines for better developing and implementing codes of conduct. Therefore the primary research objective was to develop a benchmarking framework which could provide insight into factors that could influence code of conduct effectiveness, and provide guidelines on how these factors should be influenced and accounted for to improve code of conduct effectiveness. Content of codes of conduct can play an important part in code of conduct effectiveness, yet they vary enormously in terms of provisions, language, tone, style, design. Some are directional or rules based, others aspirational, or values based. Bettcher, Deshpandé, Margolis and Paine (2005) developed the Global Business Standards Codex that depicted the most commonly found provisions in organisations they surveyed. A secondary research objective was therefore to apply this codex to the evaluation of participating organisations codes of conduct, and in so doing, evaluate the suitability of the codex as a benchmarking framework for the content of the code of conduct. Adopting a grounded theory methodological approach and code of conduct content analysis, the researcher investigated nine of South Africa’s largest multinational organisations in order to understand the factors influencing their code of conduct effectiveness better. The research makes a significant contribution to the understanding of codes of conduct, their effectiveness, and provides practical guidelines on improving their effectiveness. This is achieved by 1) presenting nine formulae for an effective code of conduct; 2) detailing a multi-dimensional model that can facilitate the effectiveness of codes of conduct; and 3) improving the codex developed by Bettcher et al. (2005) on the content of codes of conduct with the proposed code of conduct architecture criterion.

This study investigated the relationship between supportive behaviours and employee outcomes. The supportive behaviours were identified in the mentoring literature as being associated with the roles and functions performed by mentors. The term 'supportive' was used in order to recognize that people other than mentors (e.g., co-workers) could provide these behaviours. Questionnaires were used to assess employee outcomes and the level of supportive behaviours received by employees from different members in their organizations. The sample consisted of 624 managerial, technical, supervisory, and professional employees who worked for one of five organizations in British Columbia; 442 employees returned questionnaires. Respondents indicated the extent to which people with whom they had worked had provided them with behaviours associated with the eight supportive functions of Sponsoring, Exposure and Visibility, Teaching the Job, Teaching the Informal System, Protection, Role Modeling, Encouragement, and Personal Counselling. Principal component analysis indicated the presence of one general factor that accounted for over 50% of the variance; separate components for career and psychosocial functions (Kram, 1985) were not found. Principal component analysis indicated that all employee outcomes assessed in the study could be grouped into one of three types of outcomes: Job-Related (job satisfaction, role conflict, role ambiguity, organizational commitment, acceptance by co-workers), Skill Development (job, interpersonal, conceptual), and Promotional (rate of salary increase and promotions, satisfaction with progression). It was hypothesized that the level of supportive behaviours received by employees from as many as three sources would be positively related to all three types of outcomes, but that the relationship would be higher for the Skill Development and Promotional Outcomes than for the Job-Related Outcomes. This hypothesis was only partially supported. Although supportive behaviours were positively and significantly related to all types of outcomes, the relationship between behaviours and the Skill Development Outcomes was significantly higher than the relationships between behaviours and the other two types of outcomes. Failure to find a higher relationship between supportive behaviours and the Promotional Outcomes is discussed in relation to organizational reward systems. The level of supportive behaviours received from sources other than the highest source of supportive behaviours did not explain additional variance in employee outcomes over that explained by the level associated with the highest source alone. Failure to find incremental effects due to additional sources was most likely due to the high correlations (.70 to .80 range) among the level of supportive behaviours received from the different sources. These correlations may have been artifactually inflated because of the instructions that were used concerning which sources of supportive functions respondents were to rate on the supportive behaviours (respondents only rated sources on the supportive behaviours if the sources provided three or more functions). Because a number of hazards and disadvantages have been associated with intense mentor-protege relationships, it was hypothesized that the more evenly supportive behaviours are distributed across sources, the higher would be the employee outcomes. Although the way in which given levels of supportive behaviours were distributed across the sources was unrelated to employee outcomes, the hazards associated with given levels of supportive behaviours were negatively and significantly related to employee outcomes (the Job-Related ones, in particular). Methods for reducing the level of hazards are discussed. The scale that was developed to assess supportive behaviours was found to be reliable, content valid, and construct valid. Possible uses of the scale are discussed. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

The objective of the present study was to examine the effects of organizational characteristics, nature of the decision problems, and the personality of the controller on the choice of control strategies within organizations. A review of the literature on control systems was conducted as a first step. The review indicated that research on control systems until now is characterized by global normative models and theories focusing on single independent variables as predictors of appropriate control systems within organizations. Depending upon the specific researcher's inclinations, various constructs such as organizational structure, technology, environment and member needs have been suggested in the past as determinants of optimal control systems within organizations. An attempt was made here to formulate a model which considers all the above variables and integrates the several (and often conflicting) past findings. One major segment of the above model was tested during the present study. For this purpose control behaviors were classified into two major categories: behaviors that influence the 'intrinsic' motivation of the subordinates and Behaviors that influence the 'extrinsic' motivation of the subordinates. Four major hypotheses were formulated. The first hypothesis suggested that members of 'organic' organizations are more likely to use 'intrinsically' motivating control behaviors than those who work in 'mechanistic' organizations. Conversely, members of 'mechanistic' organizations were hypothesized to use 'extrinsically' motivating control behaviors more frequently than those in 'organic' organizations. The second hypothesis related the controller's tolerance of ambiguity with his or her choice of control behaviors. Specifically, it was suggested that individuals with high tolerance of ambiguity are more likely to initiate 'intrinsically' motivating control behaviors than those with low tolerance of ambiguity. The third hypothesis suggested that individuals are more likely to choose 'intrinsically' motivating control strategies when they are faced with an unimportant decision problem than when faced with an important decision problem. Conversely, it was suggested that individuals are more likely to use 'extrinsically' motivating control behaviors when faced with an important decision problem than when faced with an unimportant decision problem. The final hypothesis attempted to examine the combined effects of, three independent variables; it was, suggested that individuals who have high tolerance of ambiguity working in 'organic' firms and making unimportant decisions are most likely to use 'intrinsically' motivating control strategies and least likely to use 'extrinsically' motivating strategies. Conversely, persons with low tolerance of ambiguity working in: 'mechanistic' firms and making important decisions were hypothesized to make maximum use of 'extrinsically' motivating strategies and minimal use of 'intrinsically' motivating strategies. A laboratory experiment (n = 172) was conducted to test the various hypotheses. The first and third hypotheses were sustained; the fourth hypothesis received moderate support and the second hypothesis was at best partially supported. The research methodology used in the study, the implications of the present findings and directions for future research in the area of choice of control strategies are discussed. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

M.Com. / The study was conducted with the express purpose of finding thorough understanding, within the framework of bus i ness management, of the concept "corporate culture" and its function as a dimension of the management process. Substantial consensus has been reached by researchers that each enterprise has its own identifiable culture and that this culture ,has a very powerful infiuence on the management process and performance of the enterprise. Uncertainty however still exists regarding the manner in which this phenomenon succeeds to influence and how it can be manipulated to the benefit of a particular concern. A fact worth noting is that few researchers followed a systems approach in their studies of "corporate culture" and its extensive influence on the management process. Many researchers see "corporate culture" only as one isolated component of business management and therefore fail to explain the exact nature and influences of this phenomenon. In order to describe and analyse the concept "corporate culture" from the perspective of business management, a holistic approach forms the basis of this study. The findings hereof confirms the importance of "corporate culture" as an essential element of the process of business management. The concept of "corporate culture" cannot be separated from the business management process. Management thinking and corporate activities are influenced by cultural values and norms. Managers therefore have to take note of this phenomenon, gain knowledge thereof and strive to integrate the proactive managing of corporate culture into overall business management, in order to enhance the performance of their enterprise.

M.Com. (Human Resource Management) / This study is based on the need for developing an instrument that would be able to assess an engaging leadership climate in organisations. Research has shown that there is a link between leadership and organisational climate. Leaders are therefore responsible for creating a climate that facilitates the optimal engagement of employees. Prior to this study, there was no instrument available to assess to what extent such an engaging leadership climate exists. This study reports on the development of such an instrument within an organisation in the South African financial and banking sector: the Engaging Climate Survey (ECS). A non-random, purposive sampling procedure performed on the target population yielded a sample of n = 1 436 (a 100% response rate). Factor and reliability analyses on the completed questionnaire yielded a uni-dimensional construct with high internal consistency and reliability (α = .964).