Thesis advisor: Rebecca Schendel / Organizational culture was originally addressed in the management literature in the late 1970s (e.g. Pettigrew, 1979; Deal & Kennedy, 1982). Scholars have later on extended the discussion to include higher education institutions (e.g. Tierney, 2008). However, the majority of the literature on organizational culture in higher education is based on institutions that follow and are placed within the Western model. Despite the lack of direct evidence, it is fair to suspect that there is a relationship between the culture of an organization and its national/regional context. This study investigates the nature of that relationship and provide real world examples through an in-depth case study on the American University of Madaba (AUM). In evaluating AUM’s organizational culture, this study explores the institution’s organizational identity and its organizational design (the sum of the two, in this study, constitutes the culture of the organization). The data suggests that AUM’s organizational identity holographically (Albert & Whetten, 2004) brings together four different identity pieces: American, Catholic, Jordanian, and not-for-profit. The study concludes that the institution’s focus on its American identity and partial neglect in incorporating its other identity pieces into its organizational design with equal weight lead to a misalignment between its espoused, attributed, shared and aspirational organizational values (Broune & Jenkins, 2013), which ultimately leads to a misalignment between its organizational identity and its organizational design, resulting in what would be generally considered an unhealthy organizational culture (Gulua, 2018). In AUM’s case, this misalignment causes an amended combination of what the literature presents as an expectation gap and a dislocation gap in organizational values (Broune & Jenkins, 2013). However, context-relativity (a crucial concept in this study), with its historical, economic, political, socio-cultural and colonial components, is highly impactful in studying the relationship between AUM’s organizational culture and its national/regional context and impacts our understanding of the initial findings. This study reveals that there is a strong conception in the Middle East that American higher education = good quality (but good quality does not necessarily equal American). Therefore, in the light of context-relativity, AUM’s organizational gaps and the misalignment between its identity and design is not a matter of unauthenticity, but rather lack of options. Being an American institution in the Middle East comes with a market advantage; therefore, such an approach is a way for AUM to survive in a world where global power dynamics carry strong preconceptions about the quality of American higher education. By being American “enough” to maintain its market advantage and being Jordanian “enough” to keep the peace with their students and staff and the surrounding community, AUM, as a young higher education institution, is finding a way to survive and advance its quality in the process. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Main subject of this Master's Thesis is organizational culture. Work defines main terms: definitions, components, structure, influences, function, typologies and methods of organizational culture content. Written inquiry and documents content analysis were used to determine the present state of organization culture in XYZ, a.s. company. The target was to design necessary steps which should provide areas of organizational culture.

This dissertation study seeks to better understand two main ideas around institutional advancement in higher education: the knowledge and evidence that informs practice and the structures and systems are set up for the sharing of this knowledge and evidence within and across these organizations. I use a conceptual framework based on organizational systems, learning, and culture theories along with the tenants of evidence-informed policy and practice (EIPP) to delve deeper into my research questions. These research questions include: 1) To what extent do advancement divisions value certain types of evidence and knowledge? 2) What types of evidence and knowledge do advancement divisions utilize to inform their practice and policies? 2a) What organizational practices and individual and organizational characteristics, if any, affect which knowledge guides the work of advancement organizations? 3) What organizational learning systems and structures are in place both within and outside advancement organizations that guide practice and internal policy making? 4) What sociodemographic and organizational characteristics, if any, show a relationship with systems and structures of knowledge management and mobilization of institutional advancement shops? I draw on an original data set that combines responses from survey methodology and data from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) AMAtlas Data Miner and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) (n=1,826). Using a combination of descriptive statistics, ordinal logistic regression (OLR), and linear regression, I add to the literature base on philanthropy in higher education and gain insight into my research questions. The field of institutional advancement is understudied and often relies on anecdotal evidence versus more theory-based understanding of how work is carried out (Drezner, 2011; Drezner & Huehls, 2014; Walton, 2019). These findings push the field’s understanding of what knowledge, evidence, and learning systems and structures drive and guide the work of advancement. Advancement organizations value all types of knowledge and evidence in their work, including tacit, explicit, embedded, and research based. However, there is an incongruency between this valuing of all knowledge and evidence types and day-to-day practice. Practitioners are more likely to use and share tacit, explicit, embedded knowledge and evidence sources than research based. In addition to these findings, I find that advancement practitioners share knowledge and evidence using a multitude of different learning structures and systems both within their organization and across the broader field of institutional advancement. My study uses organizational theory and tenants of EIPP to highlight the ways that advancement practice can be further understood and improved. These improvements are critical to ensure that the field works towards a model of equity and inclusion for all alumni, donors, and stakeholders. In addition, with changing demographics and decreased alumni participation rates, the findings from my study are more important than ever to ensure the sustainability of these organizations for generations to come.

The construction industry is inherently multidisciplinary and has adopted many intellectual and technical business improvements from other industries in an effort to optimize productivity. In construction, management inactivity is the root cause of 30% of non-productive time. This has created an opportunity and need for standardized and structured repeatable procedures for new managerial strategies. A theoretical framework for Organizational Intelligence (OI), which encompasses the procedural ability of an organization to efficiently process, support, measure and reason through management issues, is proposed. The elements of organizational intelligence are divided into three types of intellectual capital: Human Capital, Organizational Capital, and Relational Capital. The performance of an organizational activity depends on the quality of these capitals that are available within an organization. An organization's Human Capital (HC) is the human resources within the organization that can be deployed to acquire and apply its knowledge to perform, respond, or control designated work with available organizational assets. Organizational Capital (OC) refers to the assets available to the organization to support the performance of organizational activities Relational Capital (RC), which combines human capital and organizational capital to perform, is needed specific organizational activities. In addition, the research uses human cognitive abilities as the basis of a fundamental structure from which to form new organizational cognitive abilities that are capable of presenting management processes as critical value creations. Organizational cognitive ability is suggested to define appropriate organizational resources in order to integrate and determine a rational selection of applicable technologies and improvements. This ability can develop knowledge with interconnected variables, namely intellectual capital, managerial process, and performance, all of which support organizational intelligence. From the theoretical framework for OI, a prototype (Intelligibility Learning Model), which determines the role of relationships in an organization's operation and use of resources, is formulated. A case based research then applies the prototype to a managerial process in the construction industry. The case research demonstrates that the Intelligibility Learning Model (ILM) could be use effectively by industry decision makers to improve performance of organizational activities. The identification and application of a theoretical framework constitutes the foundation of a new managerial theory, Organizational Intelligence Management. It thus provides a fundamental foundation that explains how the construction processes, knowledge, skills, and resources used for managerial activities function. This theory contributes and establishes a better understanding of management, from organizational resources through to final production. / Ph. D.

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The aim of the thesis is to discuss the key driving factors influencing the success of innovation in high-tech firms based in Sweden. The thesis will discuss key determinant factors and how those factors are connecting with each other. Organizational innovation and Organizational culture relationship have been under research for many years. The success of organizational innovation can be captured by various factors. Similarly, the organizational culture can be captured by different factors. During the research process, we came across various theories and this thesis is based on Rao and Weintraub (2013) developed model. The model provides six building blocks with determinant factors as a foundation for the successful innovative organizational culture. The six major building blocks or factors are Values, Behaviours, Climate, Resources, Processes, and Success (Rao & Weintraub, 2013). The purpose of the study is to define the hypothetical relationship between some of the six major factors which drives the successful innovation in the organization. The authors have developed a model for successful organizational innovation based on their hypotheses. It will be a matter of great interest to reflect upon the employee's feedback regarding those factors that influence firm’s organizational culture and successful innovation. The model was analyzed using the results of the survey in which 230 employees participated from Swedish based high-tech firms, using Structural Equation Modelling (Hair et al, 2010). The research results reveal some of the key contributors towards the successful organizational innovation and the relation between the factors for the successful organizational innovation. The factor successful innovation is strongly dependent on the innovation processes factor and this is followed by some more relatively moderate contributing factors such as the leaders’ behaviours, and the organizational resources. The study reveals that there is a strong relation between the innovation success and the innovation processes. The innovation processes factor is positively connected to the organization values, the leaders’ behaviours, and the organization resources. The organization climate is weakly connected to the innovation processes as represented by the data sample collected which needs to be further investigated. The model identified in the thesis gives an understanding of how the six factors are connected to drive the successful organizational innovation.

Thesis (MPA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this study, organisational capacity is considered as the sum of organisational capabilities to perform functions that will deliver expected levels of performance; suggesting that organisations must be enabled to solve problems, set and achieve objectives, learn and adapt operations to attain set goals. Therefore, this research analyzes various capacity options necessary for the proper functioning of the organisation in line with the Frederickson’s capacity model which considers capacity in terms of leadership and vision, management planning, fiscal planning and practice and operational support. The analysis is done in an organisational context (the Organisation of Rural Association for Progress - ORAP) in order to develop a practical understanding of capacity implications in projects implementation activities. In order for organisations to produce efficient, effective, financially viable and relevant performance, there must be a matching level of investment towards capacity development. In this research, information obtained from interviews and group discussions indicated that organisational capacity has a direct effect on the quality and time spent on a single project. In addition, project activities must satisfy specific project objectives, as well as the strategic objectives of the organisation to ensure that performance is consistent with project requirements and at the same time steer the vision of the organisation forward. Community participation should be prioritised because it is important to make sure that project implementation becomes a consultative process that would produce the required outcomes in terms of project value to the community and empowerment through training and experience to community members. It is also important to adequately fund projects and provide the right infrastructural facilities, in order to enable the smooth flow of the project implementation process. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie studie word organisatoriese kapasiteit beskou as die samevoeging van organisatoriese vermoëns om funksies uit te voer wat verwagte vlakke van werkverrigting sal lewer; wat suggereer dat organisasies die geleentheid gebied moet word om probleme op te los, doelwitte uiteen te sit en te bereik, werksaamhede te leer en aan te pas om bepaalde doelwitte te bereik. Derhalwe, analiseer hierdie navorsing verskeie kapasiteitsopsies wat nodig is vir die behoorlike funksionering van die organisasie in ooreenstemming met Frederick se kapasiteitsmodel wat kapasiteit in terme van leierskap en visie, bestuursbeplanning, fiskale beplanning en praktyk, en operasionele ondersteuning vooropstel. Die analise word gedoen in ’n organisatoriese konteks (die Organisasie vir Landelike Ontwikkelingsassosiasie – OLOA) ten einde ’n praktiese begrip van kapasiteitsimplikasies in die implementering van aktiwiteite van projekte te ontwikkel. Vir organisasies om doetreffende, effektiewe, finansiëel haalbare en relevante werkverrigting te lewer, moet daar ’n ooreenstemmende beleggingsvlak vir kapasiteitsontwikkeling wees. Inligting wat verkry is tydens navorsing vanuit onderhoude en groepbesprekings het aangedui dat organisatoriese kapasiteit ’n direkte effek het op die kwaliteit en tyd wat gewy word aan ’n enkele projek. Daarby moet projekaktiwiteite spesifieke projekdoelwitte verwesenlik, asook strategiese objekte van die organisasie om te verseker dat werkverrigting niestrydig is met projekvereistes en om terselfdertyd die visie van die organisasie uit te dra. Gemeenskapsdeelname behoort voorkeur te kry, want dit is belangrik om te verseker dat projekimplementering ’n advieserende proses word wat die vereiste uitkomste in terme van projekwaarde vir die gemeenskap en bemagtiging deur opleiding en ervaring van gemeenskapslede na vore sal bring. Dit is belangrik om projekte genoegsaam te befonds en die regte infrastrukurele fasiliteite te verskaf om die die gelykvloeiendheid van die proses van projekimplementering moontlik te maak.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

<p>The use of one form or another of team based work organization (TBWO) management policies and practices by firms with the aim of improving organizational performance and employee morale is well documented in popular literature. Empirical research has however found that the implementation of TBWO management policies and practices such as TB training, TB incentive schemes, participation in decision making, work teams etc. had minimal influence on the performance of firms (Locke and Schweiger, 1979).<br /> This research investigated the factors, which account for the effective implementation of TBWO management policies and practices with specific emphasis on three firms in the metal fabrications sector. The reason behind the choice of the three firms in the metal fabrication sector in the Western Cape was that these sites offered a rare opportunity to study the process of the implementation of TBWO. It was a rare opportunity because not many firms have embarked on implementing TBWO in South Africa. It was envisaged that the lessons that emerged from this study would be invaluable for firms that intended implementing workplace change. The level of analysis was the shop floor level at the firms as research has shown that this is the level that plays a critical role in the effectiveness of the TB management policies and practices implemented by the firms.</p>

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