<p> The onset or inception of organizational decline has been largely bypassed in management research over the past two decades, even though understanding this fundamental typology is key to mitigating organizational failure, while also providing important insight regarding how managers respond to phenomena that they may neither expect or understand. Understanding how managers observe, decide, and act in times of uncertainty, and how organizational culture and other factors may shape that environment, are important for scholars and practitioners alike to understand. This dissertation argues that corporate decline has largely been misunderstood from the perspective of onset or initiation; that the manager's decision-making process in times of decline must be considered in relation to the actual causes and factors associated with decline, and that the fundamental definition of organizational decline must be revised in light of advances in our understanding in management over the past three decades. This qualitative empirical descriptive study reviews literature regarding organizational decline with emphasis on the onset of decline, presents an equation for understanding a firm's propensity for decline, provides a revised definition of organizational decline, and examines the decision-making process of management when faced with decline based on symbolic interactionism theory.</p>

<p> I have designed and implemented a new online communication training tool (XHTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript, MySQL) that potentially maximizes a job candidate's ability to obtain job offers. All demographic statistics show people with disabilities as the largest minority group currently unemployed in the United States. Those who seek work have a higher chance of being unemployed, find a low-level job, or find part-time employment. With communication training, job candidates gain the ability to market their skills to potential employers and increase the likelihood of obtaining a job offer. I researched into ADA law that provided guidelines when developing the system and discuss a job candidate's rights in each step of the interview process. Using a Model-View-Controller (MVC) based framework, I have built a system that adapts to a user's disability, and presents them with a tailored list of interview questions and answers. For this paper, mobility and visual disabilities were focused on. The database contains legal interview questions, illegal questions under ADA law, and gray area questions (questions that may seem illegal but really not). This allows us to challenge the communication skills and knowledge of the user and encourage them to learn how to improve. PHP modules were built to be flexible and independent from each other. Different modules can be loaded and unloaded in the Controllers thereby allowing flexibility in the system. Having independent modules also reduces the time to debug code. Participants are given multiple choice answers to each interview question in a 10-question training session and rated based on their performance. Answers are assigned points (from 1 to 4) and are calculated at the end of a training session. A group of California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) students were given a 2-part survey before and after communication training and provided promising results on the effectiveness of the system. Overall, attitudes of participants showed the entire group agreed that communication is a key aspect in a job interview and that communication training would help them obtain more job offers. Participants that completed part-2 of the survey indicated that communication training through the system has overall helped their abilities. Long-term usage of the system could potentially show an increase in job interview performance (i.e., job interviews vs. job offers) and therefore, increasing the employment rate for people with disabilities.</p>

<p> This study examined the experiences of Pentagon employees who survived the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on their workplace. Six participants provided individual stories of their human experiences. One-on-one interviews were used to gather data, which was analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings indicated that survivors who did not sustain physical injuries also had not received psychological evaluation or care. Social trauma of that magnitude required my awareness of the impact on participants to revisit elements associated with the experience. Unexpected traumatic experience through survivors' stories added to literature descriptions and meanings of individual employees in the United States. Trauma experience stories by people of various cultural development uncovered their support systems, coping techniques, and delved into stories which surfaced questions about the psychological and sociological impact of unexpected trauma on human life beyond this study. Patriotism, employee group cohesiveness, family support, and grief, duty, and dedication to the employees who died and were physically injured were responsible for Pentagon employee survivors' resilience to immediately pick up the pieces after the attack and beyond to continue to carry out the mission of the United States government. </p>

<p> The role of fathers in the workplace and in the home has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. The typical American family has two full-time working parents in a household, rather than one full-time worker and one full-time stay-at-home parent. Additionally, the ways in which fathers are expected to contribute to a child's caretaking and development has changed dramatically during this timeframe. The benefits in the workplace for fathers in the United States have not changed to reflect these dynamics however. While equal pay, time off work and other benefits have been increasing for mothers in the workplace, there is a noticeable absence of paternity leave available for fathers in the United States. Moreover, fathers in the United States typically take less time off following the birth of their first-child than fathers in other countries, reducing the amount of bonding time available with their newborn child. Understanding how these experiences impact first-time fathers in the United States who were forced to take unpaid time off to bond with their child formed the research question and focus of this qualitative study: What is the lived experience of first-time fathers in the United States as they attempt to manage the work-life balance without government mandated paid paternal leave? Heuristic research methodology was utilized to discover the meaning and essence of the experiences of becoming a first-time father while managing their work and home life responsibilities while taking unpaid time off work. Eight first-time fathers who were forced to take this unpaid leave during the past five years were interviewed, gathering their experiences on managing their dual roles, finances and the transition to becoming a parent. The personal experience of the researcher is also included in this process. The aim of this qualitative study is to provide additional insight into the current body of knowledge and add to the experiences of becoming a first-time father for working fathers in the United States, where paid paternal leave is not a government sponsored benefit.</p>

<p> Increased immigration finds children in a quandary to develop an identity consolidating their multiple locales and cultures. Additionally, the internet is highly integrated into children's lives and plays a consequential role in their identity formation processes. "Local culture," as referred to by scholars (e.g. Elias &amp; Lemish 2008, 2009; De Block &amp; Buckingham 2007), is a major influence on diaspora children's identity formation. Unfortunately, "local culture" is not clearly defined in literature thus far; it can refer to any combination of at-home and outside-the-home cultures with which children in a new country interact. This paper delineates parts of local culture in a way prior literature has not and introduces the notion of "new national identity" (NNID) as a component of local culture that immigrant children acquire. NNID is derived from new national culture. It is the culture of the immigrant-receiving nation as commonly available to all immigrants regardless of their ethnic background. The case studies presented here examine NNID acquired through internet usage specifically by Iranian-American and Iranian-Canadian youth. The case studies bring to light the importance of birthplace in how children of the diaspora perceive new national identity. Their perceptions and conceptions of this development can be mitigated by many factors including, but not exclusive to, place of birth, age at which emigration occurs, parental familiarity with new national culture, local social demographics, and local co-ethnic support, to name a few.</p>

<p> Human service workers have a history of working with our neediest populations, and their work often entails long hours, challenging situations, and limited resources. When the focus of the work is on human strengths and positive approaches, more positive results emerge. In order to determine the process of how human services workers maintain a positive perspective in their work, 15 human service workers from a diverse spectrum were interviewed. A narrative analysis was applied to elicit the participants' insights, revealing common themes and strategies. The findings indicated that having a fundamental belief in human potential, seeing the client's positive attributes, and having inherent capacities of caring were fundamental. Participants believed their work was meaningful and made a difference, and that they were a part of something bigger. They felt empathy and compassion toward clients, and generally believed that their temperament and upbringing also influenced their capacity to maintain a positive perspective. Aside from their beliefs, workers depended on receiving support from like-minded people, colleagues, and others in their environment. They utilized self-care, self-monitoring techniques, and demonstrated self-awareness and a mature capacity to adapt to the unexpected. They were able to apply their learning from past experiences in support of the services they offer to others.</p>

<p> The present research study examined the strength and direction of the correlations between three leadership styles (transformational, transactional, &amp; servant) and satisfaction with leadership and motivation as outcomes of leadership style. A web-based survey was used to collect data from 181 professional Latino employees in the U.S. <i>The Leadership Style Survey </i> was combined from the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and the Servant Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ), which measured transformational, transactional, and servant leadership styles, as well as satisfaction with leadership and motivation. Data was collected about Latino employees' perceptions of their supervisors' leadership styles, and satisfaction with leadership and motivation. Results from one-sample t-tests indicated Latino employees' responses to the leadership, satisfaction, and motivation scales were significantly lower than the norm. All Pearson correlations indicated there were strong positive relationships between each of the leadership styles and satisfaction with leadership and motivation. More importantly, Fisher <i>r</i>-to-<i> Z</i> transformations demonstrated that correlations found on the Latino sample were significantly higher than the correlational norms. The findings suggest Latinos are less motivated and less satisfied with their current leaders, however characteristics of transformational, transactional, and servant leadership are highly important to Latino employees and are highly correlated to their motivation and satisfaction with leadership. Cultural values may have a strong impact on Latino professional employees' evaluation of their supervisors. The results also highlight that the responses from the Latino sample are significantly higher in terms of the relationship between servant, transformational, and transactional leadership and satisfaction with leadership and motivation. </p>

<p> The following grant project was established to develop and implement a music therapy program at Children Are Our Future, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that services foster and probation youth through residential treatment in Los Angeles County. To establish this program research into psychosocial issues affecting adolescents in outof- home care, as well as current interventions to mediate the issues, was conducted. Music therapy, as an alternative form of therapy, was supported through evidence-based research and all relevant information pertaining to alternative forms of therapy was researched and included in order to reinforce the position for the program. The Weingart Foundation was chosen as a funding source after conducting a thorough search for a compatible grant funder and a grant proposal was written. Actual submission and/or funding of this grant was not a requirement for the successful completion of this project.</p>

<p> The world has become considerably smaller through the effects of technology, media, science, transportation, the Internet, and the spread of global commerce. There has been a great deal of discussion about how to manage knowledge and foster individual, group, and organizational learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the practices and behaviors that led to the formation of communities of practice (CoPs) in a multinational corporation, their impact on distributed global offices, and their influence on a learning and development culture. The study addressed the following question: What impact do CoPs have on a multinational corporation's learning and development culture? Using a mixed methods research design, the study found that CoPs socialized learning throughout distributed offices, they contributed to localized learning-focused identity, and shifted the corporation's learning and development culture towards a blend of clan and adhocractic cultures.</p>

<p> What is the experience of being artistically creative, undergoing a major interruption in creativity and, finally, transitioning through that interruption to return to being creative? There is important literature on resilience, yet little mention of creativity. </p><p> This qualitative multiple case study explored the roles creativity played in resilient coping, wellness, and actualizing human potential by revealing experiences and life changes preceding, during, and following adversity. An intentional sampling yielded six adults, two males and four females, who experienced prolonged disruption lasting at least six months that impeded ordinary creative activity. Possible factors pertaining to people, conditions, and events were assessed. </p><p> Research data included: (a) participant essay response to specific questions about experiences before/during/after disruption; (b) a semi-structured qualitative interview expanding on the essay; (c) artwork relating to the three periods examined, and (d) a follow-up phone interview. Artistic expressions included poetry, writing, paintings, music, and design. Tape-recorded interviews were transcribed for thematic content analysis to identify major themes for the individual participants for the three periods that were investigated, as well as a cross-case comparison. </p><p> Seventeen major areas of importance, found in one or more of the three periods, involved: 1) creative environment; 2) creative output; 3) emotions; 4) financial status; 5) healing modalities; 6) insight/self-discovery; 7) loss; 8) perception; 9) perseverance; 10) productivity; 11) renewed passion for creativity; 12) self-esteem; 13) skill/training/talent; 14) "something higher"; 15) support; 16) time/space; and 17) utilizing creativity. Five themes, reflecting an overall pattern for participants' process, were: 1) support; 2) self-esteem; 3) perception; 4) perseverance, and 5) insight and self-discovery. </p><p> Results showed that using one's creativity was not only vital for overcoming adversity, but that creative activity itself evolved to meet the circumstances. As they persevered, the participants reported finding more universal meaning in their creations. They also gained greater self-confidence, renewed optimism, and found increased compassion and respect for self and others. Unfortunately, not everyone with adversity will recover, and by studying survivors such as these, we can learn what nurtures resilient responses.</p>