The 5S process is one of the techniques born out of Japanese manufacturing. Ohno, the developer of 5S, found that when manufacturing waste is eliminated, costs are reduced and profits increase. This is the bases of 5S and this research. The cost of U.S. manufactured products is higher compared to the cost of products from other global manufacturers that use 5S. This study was conducted to determine if implementing 5S in U.S. manufacturing could change U.S. manufacturing cost and if using 5S could impact U.S. manufacturing. The research questions focused on the relationship between 5S and changeover/setup times on production machines. The method was quantitative utilizing a quasi-experimental pretest/posttest design. Three manufacturing companies in Oregon made up the sample. A baseline 5S scorecard was completed recording changeover/ setup times on production machines at each of the companies. Interviews were conducted in a 30-minute training intervention on implementing 5S at each company location. Using a 5S scorecard, the waste in each company was assessed once every 2 weeks for 4 months. The number of 5S assessments varied based on the time each company location took to implement 5S. Once 5S was implemented fully, changeover/setup times for each machine were measured and analyzed using z or t statistics. Results showed a significant (p < .05) decrease to changeover/setup times at 2 companies, supporting the hypothesis that 5S could reduce cost in US manufacturing. Positive social change may be possible when showing how 5S can decrease changeover/setup times providing more production time and reducing overhead cost going into U.S. manufactured products, which in turn makes them more competitive in the global marketplace and potentially brings manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.

Small businesses continue to be a dominant portion of the global economy, and their owners need to understand how they can effectively make organizational changes, including implementing sound decision-making processes and innovation, as well as competing with much larger businesses. Minority small business owners have a particular need for organizational change because of their limited financial opportunities in relation to their nonminority counterparts. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine how minority small business leaders in the food service industry in south central Pennsylvania experience and perceive organizational change. Organizational change theory, contingency theory, and situational theory provided the framework for understanding the key research question, which encompassed how minority small business leaders in the food service industry perceived and experienced organizational change. Data were gathered from face-to-face interviews with 25 minority small business owners and analyzed using the Hycnerian analysis process. Results indicated that participants did not have a theoretically recognized definition of organizational change. Results also suggested that the participants devised human capital resources to effect organizational change. Findings support the provision of more education regarding organizational change to the small business community, especially minority business owners. The findings may have implications for positive social change by identifying strategies for minority business owners to employ organizational change through human capital so that they can compete with larger organizations and nonminority-owned small businesses.

Over 70% of information technology (IT) projects in large organizations in the United States run over budget or fail to reach completion primarily due to a lack of effective strategies. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies that IT project managers used to successfully complete IT projects. Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership theory was the conceptual framework. Purposive sampling method was used to identify 2 successful IT project managers in Central Texas. Data gathered from semistructed interviews and collected from publicly available documents were analyzed using coding techniques, constant comparison, and key word phrases. Member checking enhanced the credibility of the interpretations of participant responses. Two themes emerged from data analysis: good customer focus and providing a standard IT project methodology. Findings may be used to improve IT business managers' competence and sustainability, increase business incomes, provide a better quality of life for employees and their communities, and benefit the U.S. economy.

In a competitive retail environment, retail store managers (RSMs) need to retain retail customer service employees (RCSE) to maximize sales and reduce employee turnover costs. Servant leadership (SL) is a preferred leadership style within customer service organizations; however, there is disagreement regarding the usefulness of SL in the retail industry. The theoretical framework for this correlational study is Greenleaf's SL theory. Seventy-four of 109 contacted human resources managers (HRMs) from a Fortune 500 United States retailer, with responsibility for evaluating leadership competencies of the RSMs they support, completed Liden's Servant Leadership Questionnaire. RCSE turnover rates were available from company records. To analyze the correlation between the 3 SL constructs and RCSE turnover, multiple regression analysis with Pearson's r providing sample correlation coefficients were used. Individually the 3 constructs FIRST (beta = .083, p = .692), EMPOWER (beta = -.076, p = .685), and GROW (beta = -.018, p = .917) were not statistically significant to predict RCSE turnover. The study multiple regression model with F (3,74) = .071, p = .98, R2 = .003 failed to demonstrate a significant correlation between SL constructs and turnover. Considering these findings, the HRMs could hire or train for different leadership skills that may be more applicable to effectively lead a retail sales force. In doing so, the implications for positive social change may result in RCSE retention leading to economic stability and career growth.

Some supervisors lack effective strategies to retain millennial generation employees. The purpose of this multicase study was to explore effective strategies supervisors use to retain culinary-educated millennial employees in full-service restaurants. Nine millennials and 3 supervisors from 3 full-service restaurants in Denver, Colorado consented to face-to-face semistructured interviews with open-ended interview questions concerning retention strategies. The conceptual framework of Herzberg's two-factor theory served to guide the scope and the data analysis for the multicase study. The interview transcripts were coded and grouped into themes. Explanation building for the data analysis assisted in finding causal links between cases and the unit of analysis, and in assembling a broad explanation to fit each case. Ten subcategories emerged from the 3 themes that aligned with Herzberg's motivation factors, hygiene factors, and millennial values and attitudes. The 10 subcategories were developed, and indicated that effective strategies differ by supervisor. Among the ten subcategories, the most prominent were (a) growth and advancement, (b) positive working conditions, and (c) quality and influence of the supervisor. This study may contribute to social change by providing restaurant supervisors with strategies for millennial retention and keeping young workers in the community to share in the responsibility of social progress and to reach their full potential.

Many organizational leaders manage virtual employees without the specific training and experience required for leading a virtual organization, which can lead to billions of dollars in lost productivity. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies managers used to manage a virtual office. The target population consisted of 4 managers located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States who had a minimum of 2 years of experience managing virtual offices. The conceptual framework for this study was social exchange theory. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and a review of company documents. Data were analyzed using manual coding and a qualitative data analysis software; member checking and triangulation were used to enhance validity. Key themes emerged from data analysis related to management strategies: communication, leadership, and developing relationships. The results of this study might contribute to social change by supporting managers of virtual offices in reducing organizational travel costs and energy use, and supporting work-life balance through virtual business practices.

Military veterans may have constructive skills and abilities in emotional intelligence (EI) that assist in managing emergencies, crises, and relationships. However, according to U.S. government-employment statistics, the joblessness rate of military veterans is up to 400% higher than that of nonveterans. The paucity of research conducted on the relationship between EI and prolonged intense emotional experiences, such as those experienced during military deployments, lessens the abilities of these veterans to market their EI skills in the pursuit of employment. The purpose of this quantitative nonexperimental survey study was to observe, evaluate, and compare the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale scores of military veterans regarding combat or humanitarian mission experience. The research questions addressed whether military leaders with combat or humanitarian mission experiences score higher on EI tests than veterans without deployment experience. The Mayer and Salovey EI model, experiential learning theory, and general causation theory served as the theoretical basis for this study. Data accrued from 132 randomly selected military leaders, analyzed through an analysis-of-variance test and the Welch test of equality of means, indicated a significant statistical relationship between a combination of combat and humanitarian mission experience and EI scores, F(1, 59.506) = 38.062, p < .05. This result indicates that veterans with both combat and humanitarian mission experiences have increased EI scores when compared to veterans without combined combat and humanitarian mission experiences. All other hypotheses were statistically insignificant. The results may help veterans decrease the disparity in joblessness rates compared with those among nonveterans and may aid human resource managers to locate competent candidates for employment.

Petroleum-producing companies in Nigeria were forced to increase spending on Nigerian-sourced materials and services from $8 billion to $13 billion since 2010, due to the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act. The act was enacted in 2010 to support local firms and improve the companies' performance. However, there is sparse research on how the act affected the companies' performance. This study was an examination of the impact of the act on the companies' performance. Bandura's social cognitive theory was the theoretical framework. The research questions of this descriptive correlational study were used to examine the act's effect on employee and organizational performance. The independent variable was employees' perception of the level of implementation of the act. The dependent variables were employees' perceived task and perceived organizational business performance. Collection of interval level survey data from 372 full-time employees of the 5 major petroleum-producing companies in Nigeria was possible by anchoring only the ends of the Likert scale with words. The Pearson product-moment correlation results indicated that the independent variable correlated positively with each dependent variable. The exploratory factor analysis results indicated that the act had a positive effect on the employees' internal competence factor and the organizations' operational performance factor. The results are significant for Nigerian government officials and managers of the companies in understanding the impact of the act on performance. The outcomes have potential implications for positive social change through improved implementation strategies to achieve the objectives of the act. Researchers could focus on examining the impact of the act on employees' internal competence factor in future studies.

Nonprofit leaders often place new employees with little experience in challenging virtual team settings, where they are expected to meet increased service demands. Productivity failures reported in the 2015 State of the Nonprofit Sector survey revealed that 76% of U.S. nonprofit agencies experienced increased demand for services in 2014, while 52% were unable to meet those demands. Based on the e-leadership and leader-member exchange (LMX) theories, the purpose of this descriptive, single case study was to identify the leadership strategies used by nonprofit midlevel supervisors to increase productivity of virtual teams containing new employees in Colorado. A purposeful sampling method facilitated identification of participants who had experience using successful leadership strategies to increase virtual team productivity. Data were collected through face-to-face semistructured interviews with 6 virtual team leaders and the review of organizational documents that contained weekly, executive leadership minutes over a period of 25 months. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and word frequency searches. Three themes emerged related to increasing virtual team productivity: formal and informal staff support improved productivity, cohesive team dynamics improved productivity, and effective virtual staff mobility facilitated fieldwork. Human service nonprofit leaders who are proficient with virtual team leadership strategies could increase team productivity and meaningfully advance the use of virtual teams across the industry. Increasing nonprofit, virtual team productivity contributes to social change by meeting increased service demands in underserved communities and enhancing nonprofit employees' work experiences for continued support of the nonprofit mission.

Successful transformation projects in the retail banking industry focusing on improving customer experiences have yielded a verified increase in earnings per employee. The purpose of this single case study was to reveal the strategies used by transformational team managers to ensure improved customer experiences. The stakeholder theory was used as the theoretical framework to analyze the interplay between the project team and the base organization during the process of improving customer experiences. The population consisted of 6 managers of transformational teams in the Danish retail banking sector who were successfully delivering on assigned goals of improving customer services. The data were collected through both semistructured interviews and review of relevant company documents. Establishing a transparent and detailed audit trail in a combination of using member checking process contributed to the credibility and transferability of the findings. Applying a textual analysis provided the foundation for the development of a systematic hierarchical coding system based on mind mapping visualization of clusters of findings. The outcome led to the emergence of 3 themes: the ability to verify customer needs through various sources; the ability to engage and mobilize relevant internal stakeholders; and the ability for the transformational team to be agile, improvise, and adaptive to emerging challenges. Implications for positive social change include improved area customer experiences enabling customers to plan for a better economic future. Employees will benefit from improved customer experiences with more satisfied customers, which could lead to increased revenue and extended and more stable employment.