<p> This study was conducted to develop a grounded theory of connections between individual and collective (group and organizational) levels of analysis through the examination of play and sense-making as integral parts of organizational learning (OL) by relying on the meta-paradigm theoretical framework. The study employed grounded theory as its methodology, and its participants included 23 employees of Company A, a U.S. consulting company, who were selected using purposeful maximum variation criterion-based sampling. One semi-structured 30-60-minute interview was conducted with each participant by phone or face-to-face. </p><p> In this study, OL took the form of sense-making through play that was a social and linguistic process of organizing the information flux and coping with uncertainty that expanded knowledge and practices within the organization. The source of flux and uncertainty was the interaction of multiple social worlds and sub-worlds (such as Company A, its project teams and clients, partnering organizations, etc.) that disrupted practices and discourses within them. Uncertainty and information flux caused confusion, discomfort, anxiety, and stress in individuals, who paused in order to bracket the flux and suspended existing knowledge, discourses, and practices. Individuals then created new knowledge, practices, and discourses while developing intersubjectivity, and validated them with multiple social worlds. The results of OL as sense-making through play were captured in collective practices that linked knowledge and action and incorporated multiple social worlds. </p><p> OL as sense-making through play occurred in the ludic space of sandbox, or a physical, social, and mental space that brought together work and play, and had a dichotomy of stability and change. OL as sense-making through play had four dimensions (intuition, improvisation, experimenting, and having fun) that were responses to specific situations of the interaction of social worlds. These dimensions reflected the dichotomies of tacit and explicit knowledge and their exploration and exploitation, and shared several characteristics (situatedness in the interaction of social worlds, adaptive instantiation of other social worlds, leaping between social worlds, abductive thinking, and focusing on results). The connections between the levels of analysis of OL as sense-making through play were non-linear, multi-directional, and situationally-specific with discontinuities and interruptions so that individual sense-making through play did not necessarily become collective. </p>

<p> Assistant principals enact a plethora of work roles within their single position. They are required to manage multiple work roles with constant contradictions of role expectations. The position of assistant principal "is acknowledged to be an important actor on the school scene despite the rather limited attention given to that role by educational researchers, administrator preparation programs, and professional associations" (Greenfield, 1985, p.7). This study explored the role conflict and role ambiguity assistant principals face in their multiple work roles and the relationship these variables have to the secondary assistant principal's general perceived self-efficacy. A social theoretical lens was used to examine identity theory and self-concept in order to gain insight into the paradoxical nature of the interrole conflict and role ambiguity of secondary assistant principals in two regions of Virginia's public schools. Role conflict (RC) and role ambiguity (RA) were measured using the Rizzo, House, and Lirtzman (1970) scale. The General Self-Efficacy (GSE) scale developed by Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1995) was used the collect data on the general perceived self-efficacy of assistant principals. The data indicated that there was a significant relationship between role ambiguity and general self-efficacy; there was not a significant relationship between role conflict and general self-efficacy; and that neither role ambiguity nor role conflict were predictive of general self-efficacy. </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> role conflict, role ambiguity, general self-efficacy, secondary assistant principals, role theory.</p>

<p> The purpose of this mixed method study was to increase understanding of the essential elements that accelerate or decelerate <i>global hybrid team effectiveness,</i> building upon knowledge to date in this area. By starting with the qualitative phase and then moving into the quantitative phase, the study attempted to identify essential elements of global team effectiveness in a case study situation with global hybrid teams from a single organization. This was done by interviewing members from six teams; then gauging team effectiveness through use of an already validated and reliable survey; and, finally, testing key themes that emerged with a survey developed by the researcher to further validate global team effectiveness <i> accelerators</i> and <i>decelerators.</i> The study utilizes the <i>McKinsey 7-S Model</i> as part of its framework for capturing and analyzing data. Pulling together findings from the qualitative and quantitative phases, the study proposes that a global hybrid team may be the best choice for an organization to utilize when the following conditions exist: (a) the team has been tasked with a major deliverable which is critical to the future success of the organization and (b) the team will exist for a longer period of time, approximately 18 months to three years. The study also proposes a model for accelerating global hybrid team effectiveness through the use of <i> Global Working behaviors.</i> This study proposes that a new set of behaviors, Global Working behaviors, must be understood, utilized, and developed in global hybrid teams in order to accelerate effective team functioning. <i>Global Working,</i> while firmly rooted in cross-cultural understanding, moves beyond a focus on developing cross-cultural understanding skills into a more mature and widespread realm of behaviors, named in this study as Global Working behaviors. These behaviors are not simply exhibited by team members, but may fall to the team leader, the senior leadership team, or the functional manager in order to fully support global team effectiveness. The findings from this research indicate that organizations utilizing global hybrid teams must take care to accelerate effective team functioning by either minimizing or eliminating decelerators of global team effectiveness or accelerating global team effectiveness. </p>

<p> An organization that seeks to transform persons, places or things needs resilience to achieve its goals. In their effort to transform their societies, political organizations compete "not just for resources and customers (followers), but for political power and institutional legitimacy, for social as well as economic fitness" (DiMaggio and Powell 1991). Weber believed that 'turning raw power into legitimate authority was the central dilemma of politics' (Ikenberry 2001:17). Political organizations that are transformation-seeking and also strategically use violence as part of their transformation missions&mdash;defined as insurgencies in this research&mdash;are arguably the most resource-intensive forms of non-state political organizations (Ashforth &amp; Gibbs 1991; Weinstein 2006). </p><p> There is wide variation, however, in the resilience of these organizations (Byman 2007 and 2006, Hoffman 2002). This dissertation will investigate the specific payoff to three insurgent organizations for their 'social deposits' to legitimate their power sufficiently prior to the shocks. The specific organizational payoff to be studied is the impact on the organization's resilience. Goodwin &amp; Skocpal (1989) noted that the lifeblood of any insurgent organization "is the ongoing provision of such collective and selective goods (e.g., security, social aid), not ideological conversion in the abstract, that has played the principal role in solidifying social support for guerilla armies." This research will challenge that position in the sense that the provision of material payoffs is likely necessary but far from sufficient to produce organizational resilience.</p>

<p> European and US companies, who desire to expand from a domestic-oriented focus to a more international mind-set, must undergo significant organizational transformation. Whether the transformation results in the company becoming internationally oriented, a complete transnational organization or anywhere in-between, one of the key components in the transformation process is developing a strategy that is outwardly focused from its natural domestic markets. To develop and execute said strategy, the utilization of human capital resources might be required that the company itself may not possess. Literature review has supported the concept that when European or US companies incorporate foreign nationals on the Board of Directors (BOD), the development and execution of international expansion strategies will increase the probability of reaching their respective strategic objectives. However, literature research is silent as to whether the inclusion of foreign nationals on the BOD of South American companies would result in the comparable results as experienced by European and US companies. This research study will begin to explore if a broader set of theoretical concepts could be applied to publicly traded Chilean companies and through future studies to publicly traded South American domiciled companies. Through an engaged scholarship approach, Resource Dependency Theory will be utilized as the lens through which to present the theoretical and practical applications for the BOD of publicly traded Chilean-domiciled companies to consider when developing international expansion strategies outside of Chile. </p>

<p> This dissertation utilizes law and society research, as well as communication advocacy, to frame analysis and offer an extra-legal solution to conflicts between modders, fans who create new content from existing videogames, and game companies. It utilizes grounded theory and the traditional legal adversarial documentary method to abstract and analyze conflict caused by a cease and desist (C&amp;D) letter sent to Kajar Laboratories concerning <i> Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes</i> &ndash; Kajar's mod to Square Enix's <i> Chrono Trigger</i>. Through qualitative analysis of websites, forum posts, and blog comments about the C&amp;D this dissertation discovers the grounded theory Legal Threats Break Moral Communities. Utilizing the grounded theory and legal argumentation a critique is made of proposed legal solutions. A nonlegal solution to ameliorate future conflict is then suggested as a means to satisfy both the needs of modders and game companies. </p><p> In analyzing the conflict this dissertation illustrates how the threat of law stops modders, disrupts the community, and chills future mods. This dissertation reinforces a regulatory understanding of copyright law arguing limited monopolies on intellectual property serve to advance the arts and sciences. Modding, like many forms of participatory culture, promotes valuable science, technology, engineering, and math through self-learning. Mods promote the original games while also generating new art. The dissertation also shows that both regulatory and proprietary interpretations of copyright law benefit from modding. </p><p> Through critique of status quo solutions and analysis of a Microsoft exemplar this dissertation suggests a generic game content usage guide as an extra-legal, feasible solution that advances the goals of all parties involved without requiring legal intervention.</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> All over the globe, nonprofit organizations aim to strengthen communities while struggling with the restraints of limited resources. This research study involved Participatory Action Research (PAR) to examine how to build internal capacity in one such organization in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. This study was a partnership between me (the academic researcher) and organizational members and stakeholders of the Baobab Home. Through interviews and meetings, the project focus involved creating written contracts. Over the course of five meetings, contracts were researched, policies and procedures were discussed, and formal contracts were created in Swahili. Findings include a discussion of the role of the outside researcher in the PAR process, as well as the value of partnering with a cultural guide. This study also provides a look at how to use PAR to build capacity within organizations. Finally, there is a review of the project itself, its successes, and its lessons learned.</p>

<p> The objective of this research study was to ascertain if attributes of servant leadership were more fully developed in undergraduate students nearing graduation than in those students who recently embarked on their university program. The university at which the project was completed endeavors to make its undergraduate students servant leaders as publically stated in its vision, mission, and other public statements and documents. The results of the research indicate that of the five servant leadership attributes selected, the seniors indicated higher scores in two categories, lower in one, and showed no statistical difference in the other two. As a result of this study, therefore, it cannot be concluded that the upper classmen had stronger servant leadership attributes than freshmen. The implications of this result include the need for further study around the students&rsquo; environments and history, the institution&rsquo;s curriculum and extracurricular content, and the culture of the university in light of its mission and vision.</p>

<p> The primary purpose of this research was to test the capability of the Organizational Change in Cultural Context (OC³) Model (Latta, 2009, 2011) to predict responses to change. According to Latta, predictions of resistance to or facilitation of change can be predicted by utilizing organizational culture and its alignment with the content and implementation strategies of the change. The setting for this research was a small elementary school in western Pennsylvania during implementation of a reform model known as Response to Instruction and Intervention (RTII). This qualitative study: 1) investigated the culture of the school using Martin&rsquo;s (1992, 2002) three perspective framework; 2) analyzed the content and implementation strategies associated with implanting the RTII change initiative; 3) made predictions based upon the interaction effects specified by Latta&rsquo;s (2011) OC³ Model with the assistance of a panel of experts; and 4) evaluated those predictions using self-report data from participants at the target institution and members of the implementation team. </p>