<p> Ainsworth and Bowlby&rsquo;s Attachment Theory suggest that young children experience lasting effects of disconnection if separated from their primary caretaker. Foster children are legally removed from their primary caretakers, yet the effects of foster care on later social relationships of foster children is unknown.</p><p> The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the perceptions of adult foster children, ages 18 years and over, who were placed into foster care under 5 years of age. The major challenge was to obtain qualifying participants, first, because this is an invisible population in the American culture and, secondly, these individuals are hesitant to share their stories. The initial population included 5 persons from a local shelter and, using the snowball method, the researcher secured an additional 15 adult foster children that met the criteria.</p><p> Applying the phenomenological approach, these long interviews included 6 questions that addressed the research question: What do adults who have been in foster care placements prior to age 5 and have experienced more than 5 years in foster care placements from age 0-18 perceive are the long-term effects of foster care on their adult social relationships? The interviews occurred throughout Southern California and were taped and lasted 40 minutes to 2 hours, often filled with tears and high emotion. The participants included 3 with prior jail time, 6 who were homeless, 14 who were employed, 10 with an addiction, and 2 who were married. All had obtained a high school degree. All shared repeated unsuccessful friendship or romantic relationships.</p><p> The transcribed interviews were reviewed by 4 trained coders in a doctoral program and produced 8 themes, leading to the 8 conclusions. The primary conclusions are adult foster children express that abandonment is a deep core aspect of their psychological profile (95%); share the mental health issues of low self-esteem, lack of trust, and putting up walls in their social relationships (100%); act out their generational cycles of various addictive behavior relating to abandonment (100%); spirituality helped to stabilize more than half of these adult foster children through challenging times; and those without spiritual connections described the support of mentors in their lives.</p>

<p> This case study examines response to organizational change and the structuring interactions between knowledgeable agents and organizational context. The conceptual framework for this study combines Piderit&rsquo;s (2000) concept of multidimensional resistance to change and Stones&rsquo; (2005) strong structuration theory in order to investigate external and internal structures and active agency. The research site was a small regional hospital within a large mid-Atlantic health system. The health system introduced a new online reporting system (ORS) in February 2014. This empirical study examined the file manager&rsquo;s response to ORS change within the organization. Data was collected through observations, documents and interviews with the health system leadership, ORS change agents, and file managers. Stones&rsquo; (2005) methodological bracketing approach guided the data collection and analysis. </p><p> The study identified the organizational contextual features that shaped the file managers response to organizational change. The findings present the structuring interactions between the internal and external structures as displayed through the active agency of the file managers. By examining the active agency between structures, five primary structuring interactions were identified as shaping the file managers&rsquo; response to the ORS change: (1) alignment of values, (2) prioritization, (3) influence, (4) engagement, and (5) managing tension. This study demonstrated that structuring interactions influence the active agency of the file managers related to the ORS change, and shaped file managers multidimensional response to the ORS change across cognitive, emotional, intentional and behavioral dimensions.</p>

<p> Over the last three decades, collaboration has come to the fore as a way to address natural resource management problems that are often complex and contentious. As such, a new way of doing business has emerged for the United State Forest Service (USFS) as it engages community members in collaborative governance arrangements created to address forest management issues. USFS field-level personnel and the community stakeholders involved in collaborative governance arrangements expend valuable and limited resources to obtain collaborative outcomes. Field observations suggest that in order for collaborative outcomes to be durable and maintain longevity, changes must occur at the organizational level. However, few existing studies that document organizational changes made by natural resource land management agencies as a result of the agency&rsquo;s engagement in collaborative governance arrangements with community stakeholders. This dissertation provides theoretical and practical insights into the organizational changes occurring at three USFS field offices.</p><p> This exploratory, qualitative study employs a case study approach and semi-structured interviews were conducted with agency personnel and non-agency stakeholders. Document analysis of meeting minutes and personal observation data were also conducted. The data yielded the richest results when interpreted through three overarching theoretical lenses: organizational change, public administration, and collaborative governance. The results revealed that organizational changes are occurring at the field-level as a result of the actions of individual actors as they cross organizational boundaries. The outcomes of these changes can be beneficial to the agency, but a cautionary tale is presented suggesting that collaborative processes may impede, if not derailed, by power imbalances. The role of trust, or more accurately, the lack thereof, and its ability to change organizational boundaries and create power imbalances in the shared decision-making arena emerged as finding of importance to land managers and collaborative governance theory.</p><p> This dissertation advances the scholarly and practical knowledge of organizational change by presenting empirical evidence of the impact of community collaboration on federal natural resource agencies. It is necessary for the leadership of the USFS to understand their role in the collaborative process and to understand how and why these changes are taking place if they are to be sensitive to the added pressures and tensions that collaboration brings to their individual staff members. Managers in the USFS will need to be cognizant of the attributes of trust and should encourage their staff to build trust with stakeholders if they wish to maintain equitable power positions in the shared decision-making process. Future research that provides evidence of the linkage between organizational change, trust, and power would be useful in further understanding how the collaborative process and the collaborative behavior of individuals in natural resource management links to the outcomes of collaboration. </p>

<p>From the Front Line to the Living Room: The Transition of Female Veterans Back Into Civilian Life. Bretia Arrington Gordon, 2018: Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler College of Education. Keywords: veterans, military personnel, military service, armed forces The problem addressed in this study was female veterans faced unique challenges during military service and even more difficult experiences when transitioning into civilian life. Women long served in the military and reported similar as well as different experiences than men, especially in relation to Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). For example, female veterans reported a higher percentage of sexual harassment and gender discrimination than did male veterans. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health issues were also reported differently for female veterans than males. Women were found to be more likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness after returning from deployment. This research was conducted using semi-structured interviews. The questions were broad in scope due to the sensitive nature of the problems faced by the participants. Questions focused upon recurring themes, such as PTSD, military sexual trauma, substance abuse, and impact on domestic relationships. The participants? experiences were analyzed for patterns and trends, and the information was used to encourage future research efforts in the improvement of services for female veterans. The purpose of this research was to collect information from OEF-OIF female veterans who experienced firsthand the challenges of being active duty and a civilian. The study also explored different aspects of issues not immediately identified or researched in depth in relation to this population. This research would help to inform change within the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) system and other organizations supporting OEF-OIF female veterans and families. Findings revealed participants shared similar experiences from their time in the military and during their deployment to serve in OEF and OIF. The accounts of their experiences presented themes of (a) PTSD and other mental health issues; (b) military sexual trauma; (c) discrimination based on gender, race, and rank; (d) different impacts of deployment; and (e) experiences with the VA health-care system. Findings provided a new understanding of the literature indicating the complex realm of what it is like for female veterans to (a) serve in combat, (b) transition back into their lives after deployment, (c) navigate the VA system, and (d) maintain their dignity and integrity while being discriminated against, and accepting and learning to live with PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Findings supported past literature, suggesting female veterans were more likely to need long-term services to assist them as they returned from combat and transition back into civilian life. They needed specific female-centered assistance from the VA to treat them for issues related to physical and mental health, counseling and quality medical services, and housing and employment assistance to deter potential homelessness. Findings also supported the call for the Department of Defense, U.S. Military, and the VA system to acknowledge the issues of discrimination based on rank, race, and gender and to hold those accountable who used it as a means to control and limit the potential of female members of the military.

<p> This dissertation explores the Black Madonna as the archetypal center of the American cultural complex around homophobia. The dissertation is designed to: (a) present an approach to Jungian concepts informed by complexity theory and transdisciplinarity; (b) integrate the unconscious in research, by honoring the feminine archetype in theory and methodology; (c) extend analytical psychology to the collective level through an exploration of archetype and the evolution of consciousness and culture; (d) detail the American cultural complex around homophobia; and (e) engage the <i>religious function</i> through the production of a meaningful, hermeneutic exploration of consciousness and cultural transformation. </p><p> The research question guiding this dissertation is as follows: through the irruptions of the American cultural complex around homophobia, how has the dominant culture&rsquo;s unconscious, collective projection of the Black Madonna, symbolically embodied by gay men, constellated the transcendent function, supporting the emergence of an integral structure of consciousness and a partnership model of culture? </p><p> Several theoretical perspectives (Jungian and post-Jungian thought, complexity theory, Gebser&rsquo;s structures of consciousness, Eisler&rsquo;s Cultural Transformation theory, and Singer&rsquo;s theory of the cultural complex) provide an integrated framework. The research is guided by a melding of approaches and methods, including transdisciplinarity, hermeneutics, and amplification. </p><p> The dark feminine archetype has been symbolically embodied by gay men throughout the course of the American struggle for gay rights. As the dominant culture is better able to relate to gay men, it may likewise better relate to the dark feminine archetype, imagined herein as the Black Madonna. Incremental shifts in homophobic attitudes seem to emerge through this relation to the Other and are indicative of evolved consciousness. Ongoing retraction of homophobic attitudes may help to move the culture towards an integral structure of consciousness and partnership model of culture, the unfolding of the Black Madonna archetype. </p><p>

abstract: People going through homelessness in the contemporary U.S. struggle with a number of dehumanizing challenges. Even as some attempt to secure employment and end their homelessness, they may run into difficulties because they have been Othered to such a significant level. They have effectively been left out of society because of their lack of participation in its dominant activity as prescribed by market fundamentalism, the creation and exchange of goods. The following thesis seeks to explore the experience of homelessness for those within a homeless shelter environment in an economic-focused society. It utilizes Midrash Social Research Methodology (MSRM) to focus on the voice of the person going through homelessness, the marginalized Other. It relies on the phenomenology of the 20th-Century philosopher Emmanuel Levinas in an effort to explore the meaning and knowledge to be found in conversations held with the Other. The goal of this thesis is to propose a purposeful refocusing on service through conversation. The issue of homelessness is multi-faceted and its causes are as diverse as the people who experience it. Service providers in particular must engage those being Othered, and they must provide support in ways that allow for pluralistic realities, not prescribing singular means of ending homelessness. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Social Justice and Human Rights 2011

<p> Exploratory projects have the capability to emerge new ways of understanding data. Non-traditional perspectives, like the intersectional-vulnerability standpoint used in this project, enable researchers to step back and look at experiences differently. At the beginning of this paper, I relate my experience of coming out as lesbian to the experience of coming out as a child witness of abuse in order to set the standard of how I conceptualize coming out. Coming out was an experience that connects LGBTQ people across the spectrum allowing me to use that experience to bring LGBTQ identities together. Assumptions about the coming out experience in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity are challenged and a new theory emerges. Related to coming out, the experience of getting out of an abusive relationship reflects parallel perceptions around fear, risk, and vulnerability. It is by building the bridge between researcher and participants that I was able to challenge bias and create a new idea about the coming out/getting out process for LGBTQ survivors. </p><p>

<p> This qualitative study on fun in the workplace explored the phenomenon from a new vantage point, the individual&rsquo;s experience of a management-sponsored fun event across a time horizon. The research in the field has sought understanding of fun by identifying different ways employees have fun at work, categorizing the sources of fun at work, and progressing toward a more unified definition of what fun in the workplace encompasses. This study accepted the existing research linking fun in the workplace to improved engagement, improved retention rates, applicant attraction, and many other beneficial organizational outcomes. Notwithstanding all these benefits, the qualitative research has issued warnings about management-sponsored fun in the workplace, proposing that it can foster cynicism and negativity at the same time it is creating more positive outcomes. This study aimed to add to the body of research by exploring the individual experience of fun in the workplace across a time horizon. To do this, this study gathered descriptions from employees about their thoughts and feelings before, during, and after the experience of a management-sponsored fun event. The data were collected using semi-structured in-depth interviews of 28 individuals at four different mid-sized companies. Through a thematic analysis of these data four findings are presented: participants experience an anticipatory period before fun events; they articulate the importance of breaking with the mundane and deeper connections with coworkers; they perceive a manifestation of organization values at these events; and they exhibit very minimal evidence of cynicism or negativity related to these events. Implications for organizations and future researchers are proposed.</p><p>

<p>Strategic and Corporate Social Entrepreneurship (SCSE) is a practice intended to support corporate endowments in developing effective, executable and impactful forms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which is a movement designed to encourage companies to engage in sustainable development, working toward ensuring social, environmental, and financial benefits for society and the environment. SCSE is grounded in a conceptual framework based on the three pillars of corporate responsibility: (a) social, (b) environmental, and (c) financial. Social Entrepreneurship (SE) literature from the last two decades reveals that a comprehensive theoretical framework for SE does not exist, and that most existing SE concepts fail to consider the important role of change agents. The purpose of this study was to determine best practices in corporate policies for creating, implementing, and measuring CSR. More specifically, this study compared corporate responsibilities and policies based on a review of (a) qualitative data pertaining to CSR located on selected corporations? websites and (b) literature on Corporate Social Responsibility, Strategic and Corporate Social Entrepreneurship, Corporate Entrepreneurship, Social Entrepreneurship, and both historical and contemporary leadership. The study also pointed to leadership theories and attributes that may be best suited to implementing CSR best practices. Analysis of this study?s findings provided a detailed comparison of corporate responsibilities and policies for creating, implementing, and measuring CSR for the seven companies included in the study?s purposive sample: Apple, Allergan, Alibaba, BMW, Disney, FedEx, and Google. For these companies, most contemporary, global CSR leaders were (a) global, (b) ethical, and (c) transformational. These leaders acted as transformational change agents and demonstrated four overarching best CSR practices for publicly-traded, global corporations: (a) creating a clear mission, (b) having a global outlook, (c) setting measurable goals, and (d) leading ethically. Most importantly, this study shows that of the seven global corporations included in the study, the three companies demonstrating the most impactful and comprehensive best CSR practices?Apple, BMW, and Disney?employed female CSR leaders. Gender appears to have played a role in successfully leading CSR initiatives, and so it seems highly advantageous for global companies to be selective with CSR leaders.

<p> Children&rsquo;s picture books engage young readers with lessons of both literacy and socialization. They are discursive components of visual culture, with ideological origins that can be traced to European colonizers, whose policies fueled popular sentiment that devalued those who appeared different and, thus, encouraged systemic oppression and genocide. Utilizing Hall&rsquo;s definition of representations will provide perspective in discussions of social constructs (including constructed absences), developmental psychology, and research-evidenced processes of child perception and meaning. These phenomena often convey unearned hierarchical power that culminates in behaviors that include social exclusion and discrimination, and their far-reaching effects are discussed by MacDonald as European Structuralism, in which &ldquo;social and cultural life are governed by deep-seated structural polarities&rdquo; (1995, p. 35). European Structuralism, and related systems, disadvantaged groups that include females, non-European males, non-heterosexuals, those with a high body mass index (BMI), and non-Christians. Visual culture, including picture books, perpetuates these constructs that lead to oppression. To call attention to the origins of biased messages, I analyze the physical characteristics of best-selling picture book authors and illustrators. Few surprises exist, yet these data add another layer to the intricate systems of power dynamics. </p><p>