<p> From classic to contemporary leadership theory, scholars stress the need for leaders to achieve success through the productivity of their subordinates. The police executive position choice is arguably more important because of the constitutional powers that police officers possess on a daily basis. Officers have the ability to restrict one&rsquo;s liberty and even use deadly force if necessary. </p><p> The critical first step in the selection process is to identify competencies necessary for effectiveness at the executive level. Similar studies have addressed this question, yet the competencies measured are often validated by scholars and police executives themselves. The purpose of this study was to increase this criterion validity further, comparing those competencies with perceptions from both executives and the subordinates they seek to lead as well as to create a more comprehensive competency model that is in accordance with the tenets of contemporary leadership theory, by examining the traits that police subordinates consider imperative for sustained success. </p><p> Participants for this study consisted of 28 police executives and 145 subordinates (approximately a 5:1 ratio, subordinates to executives, respectively). An independent samples t test was utilized to compare the means between the two samples and a Cronbach&rsquo;s alpha test was performed to ascertain construct validity and internal consistency. </p><p> The findings indicate some competency perception rating disparities between the two sample populations. While there was a reliable relationship for most of the competencies measured, these statistically significant disparities could prove essential in the construction of a more comprehensive, police executive competency paradigm. Implications of these findings, as well as recommendations for policy, practice, and future research are all discussed in this study.</p>

<p> This is a posttest only, with control-group experimental research, which aimed to evaluate the changes in performance of kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) schools in Minnesota from a perspective of principals and administrators, as a result of having participated in Target's Take Charge of Education program, one of the largest cause-related marketing (CRM) education-based campaigns in the United States. To evaluate the performance improvement, a Program Survey was designed to collect data from school principals and administrators. The general findings of this dissertation research confirmed that the overall performance of Minnesota K-12 schools had been improved, from the perspective of principals and administrators, by participating in a CRM program. Additionally, the dissertation research findings also showed that there were positive impacts of CRM program on both public schools and nonpublic schools. Specifically, all five dimensions of school performance examined in this research, which contained mission, finance, customers, internal process, and learning and growth, had also improved significantly from the perception of Minnesota K-12 schools' principals and administrators. In future studies, the impact of CRM programs on educational institutions, specifically, the impacts of CRM on students could be assessed from more various aspects. Furthermore, it would be worthwhile to discover the possible relationships between the amounts received from a CRM program and the impact of the program on educational institutions in the future studies.</p>

<p> This study analyzes the connection between U.S. foreign policy and its mechanisms for either the resolution or protraction of conflict using the case of North Korea. This case is particularly ripe for resolution with regard to the United States&rsquo; recent &ldquo;Pivot to Asia.&rdquo; Moreover, now that North Korea is under the new leadership of the young, relatively unknown leader Kim Jong-un, this may be an essential the time to explore and implement alternative methods for ending this conflict. The purpose of this study is to enquire whether combining conflict analysis and resolution (CAR) tools and practices with alternative and dynamic soft foreign policy efforts might play a positive role in resolving this conflict. This study was conducted by analyzing current and historical documents on U.S. foreign policy, studying its desired or stated effects and comparing them to the known actual effects on the North Korean regime and its people. To help understand these effects, this study also sought the unique foreign policy perspectives, opinions, needs and desires of former North Korea refugees. The significance of this is in understanding and evaluating where CAR opportunities surface by promoting the participation of stakeholders as catalysts for change from the group of people directly affected by foreign policy: North Koreans themselves. The findings show that the U.S. foreign policy approach towards North Korea has not significantly evolved over the past 60 years. Moreover, even those North Koreans interviewed who steadfastly support a continued U.S. hard policy approach toward their former homeland conceded that positive change would also require alternative approaches that promote direct and indirect high quality contact. The findings also show even in a controlled interview environment, North Korean Refugees can change how they think, interact, and receive information, based on direct HQC and the positive repositioning of self and other. Many also had sustained contact with their loved ones still living in the North, and provide them with aid. Most North Koreans interviewed had received indirect and or direct information about the outside world when they had lived in North Korea including such things as listening to radio, watching movies or drama and receiving aid, which had a positive effect on them. While most North Koreans (still in the north) do not believe in religion, it can be an effective tool for change. The regime has continued for so long due to the structural violence and deprivation it has over society. Finally, local markets in North Korea play a key role in changing the lives of North Koreans and that North Korean diaspora can help change North Korea. The analysis provides innovative conflict resolution methods and offers potential tools and recommendations for a multi-dimensional foreign policy approach, which may affect and alter foreign policy discussions and decisions. This study, the results and recommendations are intended to be an initial step toward rethinking U.S. foreign policy for purposes of &ldquo;provention.&rdquo; </p>

<p>An extensive body of research documents the strong influence of social relationships, social support, social integration and social networks on well-being. Nonetheless, conceptual clarity remains elusive and these terms are often used interchangeably, precluding confident conclusions and hindering cross-study comparisons. Guided by social network analysis, the social convoy model and the life course framework, I measure social network structure and composition through the use of typologies. I then examine the influences of social network structure and composition on an array of health indicators, including self-rated health, psychological distress and self-esteem. </p><p>This study uses data from the Americans' Changing Lives Survey, a nationally representative longitudinal panel survey of adults aged 25+ interviewed in 1986, 1989, 1994 and 2001/2002. I use hierarchical cluster analysis to create social network typologies from data on respondent reports of close confidants and develop two typologies, one for social network structure and the other for social network composition. In cross-sectional analyses, I use logistic regression and Poisson regression to examine the associations between these two social network typologies and poor/fair self-rated health, high self-esteem, and counts of depressive symptoms. I also perform two sets of longitudinal analyses to determine the predictive utility of network structure and composition for health. First, I use OLS regression to examine whether the social network typologies predict residual change scores for self-rated health, psychological distress, and self-esteem both 3 and 8 years after the baseline survey. Second, I use autoregressive cross-lagged models within a structural equation framework to disentangle the effects of social causation and social selection on the relationship between social network structure and the three indicators of health mentioned above.</p><p>The typologies representing social network structure and composition are strongly related to important social and demographic factors. In addition, there are strong and significant cross-sectional associations between these typologies and indicators of mental health, although their association with self-rated health is weak at best. The typologies are highly predictive of changes in mental health across waves, although again, they are not strongly related to changes in self-rated health. Lastly, this dissertation finds strong support for both social causation and selection processes at work in the relationships between social network structure and self-rated health and psychological distress. Support social selection, but not social causation, was found in regards to self-esteem.</p> / Dissertation

<p> <b>Purpose.</b> The purpose of the mixed methods study was to identify and describe the extent to which individual or team workspace contributes to innovation in an organizational setting as perceived by knowledge workers in California. In addition, the purpose was to identify stimulators and barriers in the physical workspace on innovation. A literature review revealed the importance of creativity and innovation in organizations. Gaps in the literature between workspace and innovation were examined and perspectives on the combination of workspace design and innovation were assessed. </p><p> <b>Methodology.</b> This mixed-method research design combined two methods, surveys and interviews, in a sequential manner. First, the quantitative component (surveys) was administered via a 53- question online survey. The results of the quantitative survey guided the qualitative interviews by prioritizing data and themes. The population for the study included full-time knowledge workers in California. </p><p> <b>Findings:</b> Respondents identified core dimensions within the Situational Outlook Questionnaire that led to innovation and creativity in the workspace environment. To further expand respondents acknowledged individual and team workspace factors that led to more innovative outcomes. Within the individual workspace technology surfaced as a primary driver of innovation. When asked about team workspace respondents were more constructive indicating concern over noise and interruptions. Additionally, the study asked about stimulators and barriers to innovation within the workspace. Stimulators included placement of staff within close proximity to key team members, design that encourages trust, and inspiring d&eacute;cor that awakens creativity. Lastly, barriers to innovation in the workspace included status quo mentality, decreasing square footage from individual workspace, and concerns with open space design. </p><p> <b>Recommendations for Action:</b> The author offers several recommendations for action including: optimize the right level of playfulness to drive innovation; avoid workspace fads and focus on workspace intent; add pulse surveys about employee workspace to drive design strategies that compliment innovation objectives; consider new ways of assigning space by giving thought to the requirements for the worker instead of seniority within an organization; adopt policies to reduce noise and utilize space more purposefully; lastly, the researcher introduces a new model to use when planning workspace that drives innovation.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1982. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 474-513).

<p> This qualitative research compared and contrasted the experiences, expectations, hopes, and dreams held by three dyads of Heritage Language and Culture (HLC) parents in three different countries concerning education. Sociolinguistic and sociocultural methods of analysis of narrative were used to code and analyze 63 stories selected from six participant interview transcripts. The context of each research venue, including economic, racial, and social positioning of each participant was explored, as were the researcher&rsquo;s subjectivities, as elements impacting the analysis and interpretation of findings. Especially impactful on the findings and implications of this research was that each of the participant parents had experienced a <i>significant negative event</i> during their childhood schooling, and each participant had at least one child who had also experienced a significant negative event while attending a primary level public school.</p><p> Findings answered the five research questions and indicated that HLC parents valued education and identified it as a means of achieving success. Although the definition of success was found to vary by country of residence, all the participant parents believed academic and life success were dependent upon the acquisition of English language skills. Although parents in all three research venues recited multiple instances of physical abuse or threats or acts of violence or racism within the school setting, and were not surprised that it occurred, all valued the social aspects of attending school.</p><p> The implications for educational program planners and school personnel arising from these findings include the potential for misunderstanding between U.S. school personnel and HLC immigrant families concerning corporal punishment policies and violence, rejection of U.S. education program definitions of successful educational outcomes by HLC families, and reciprocity in education between schools and families. Three avenues for future research resulting from this current research are suggested.</p>

<p> This study uses conversational analysis to identify how adolescents with pragmatic difficulties use text messaging to establish friendship networks. Individuals diagnosed with Social Communication Disorders (SCD) have normal intelligence, however reportedly exhibit difficulties interacting in face-to-face social situations due to differences in their interpretation of both social and linguistic cues. These miscues often lead to problems in deciphering subtle linguistic meaning indicators or in decoding physical concomitants of communication signaling nuances of conversations in friendship networks. Text messaging eliminates meaning-making social cues and subtle linguistic markers present in face-to-face interactions. With text messaging becoming a ubiquitous form of interaction for adolescents, it remains to be seen how individuals diagnosed with SCD use texting to establish and maintain social practices. This dissertation study examined text messaging use in a group of adolescents diagnosed with SCD. Six adolescents collected and saved text messages for a period of 1-4 months. Using a conversational analysis framework, texts were parsed into conversational units and coded for specific communicative indices that marked communicative competencies. In addition, individual interviews with adolescent participants and their parents served to contextualize the analysis of the collected text conversations. Results indicated that the participants showed communicative competencies that belie their language use in face-to-face interactions. These adolescents, though they all report that they prefer face-to-face interactions, effectively used text messaging as a medium for maintaining social relationships, and all participants related that friendships are enhanced when they have access to friends via phone. The adolescents in this study used diverse language styles to communicate with different people. Instances of creative language found throughout their texting bodes well for these adolescents diagnosed with SDC, as success in this context may further encourage other forms of both written and verbal language use. If the creative nature of the texting sphere is exploited, and individuals show communicative competence in this medium, we need to redefine competence and recognize more instances of appropriate communication with peers, thus expanding the social networking of these individuals in meaningful ways. Additionally, culturally established categories framing this particular disorder should be reconstructed to constitute these individuals as capable communicators.</p>

<p> One of the major initiatives found in the Improving America&rsquo;s Schools Act of 1995 was a focus on school safety and security relative to the perceived negative impact of violence generated from guns and illicit drugs. This tougher stand manifested itself in the federal requirement that states adopt laws requiring the expulsion of students for drug violations unless special circumstances were determined to exist. If special circumstances existed then another disciplinary action may be administered. Special circumstances are not defined in the federal law and have not been defined in the subsequent Virginia law. The lack of clarity in the federal and state laws, and their application by school boards has yielded nearly 25 years of widely varying sanctions by local divisions for student drug offenses.</p><p> This mixed methods research study analyzed the relationship between the individual school board member&rsquo;s level of attributional complexity (AC) measured by the Fletcher et al. AC scale and their decision-making in assigning a disciplinary sanction in student drug violations. This research study also analyzed school board members&rsquo; level of AC in decision-making with the accumulated hours of training provide through the Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA), years of experience as a school board member, level of confidence in the decision made, and a school board that delegates to the superintendent authority to conduct a preliminary hearing compared to a board that does not delegate the hearing. Individual follow-up interviews extended exploration into other possible factors that influenced decision-making in student drug cases.</p><p> The explanatory design methodology provided a structure for identifying trends in judicial decision-making by school board members to aide in explaining how each independent variable may affect the individual participant level of AC. This mixed methods study has a strong quantitative orientation with the final report having two distinct consecutively developed sections. The second qualitative section is built on further explaining the emerging trends in school board decision-making. The survey asked participants if they were willing to participate in a follow-up interview. From this pool of volunteer participants, a purposeful selection was conducted of varying demographic elements to ensure coverage of varying levels of AC, large and small school divisions, gender, age, training and board experience.</p><p> The statistical analysis of the quantitative questions suggests that there are no statistical significant differences between the individual level of AC of a school board member and any of the aforementioned factors. The qualitative phase of the study suggests that decision-making is contextual to the individual school board. This context consists of a combination of factors with the dominate theme including the recommendation of the superintendent, and the board&rsquo;s interpretation of appropriate sanctions grounded by a strict or flexible application of code and policy. Secondary decision-making factors which emerged were: 1. student accountability through assignment of discipline; 2. the need to maintain a safe drug-free environment for all students; 3. the need to continue the drug-violating student&rsquo;s educational development; and, 4. the need for drug dependency assessment and intervention.</p>

<p> The Occupy movement galvanized people from across the United States and around the world to stand up against corporate profiteering and political corruption. The revolutionary energy spread from community to community and Occupiers began to create a reality moving beyond racism, hierarchy, and patriarchy. Feminist activists, both women and men, had a major voice in Occupy. They called into question sexist behavior, unrecognized privilege and gender inequality in conjunction with other forms of oppression. Unfortunately the breakdown of the encampments and the backlash in the mainstream media led to a critical view of the movement. In reality, Occupiers formed networks of mutual aid which continue to expand and transform today. </p><p> Based on ethnographic research conducted at Occupy Los Angeles and Occupy Long Beach, this thesis project explores a feminist perspective of the Occupy movement. Inspired by applied visual anthropology and new media, Occupy Feminism is an interactive zine interspersed with writing, photographs and videos. This project is an educational resource for those who want to understand feminist theory, the Occupy movement and how they intersect.</p>