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This research study explored the theoretical underpinnings of implementing government reform in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), specifically focusing on a management philosophy called Faster, Better, Cheaper (FBC). It is situated within the broader context of Government reform efforts that attempt to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of government organizations in their delivery of products and services to the public. This study employed the Grounded Theory qualitative research methodology that concentrates on a central phenomenon and generates a theory from a category or construct-oriented approach. The objective is to generate a substantive-level theory that describes the practice of FBC within NASA and is grounded in the data collected from the organization. The following research questions guided this study: 1.What is the meaning of Faster, Better, Cheaper for Public Professionals in the NASA organizational environment? 2.What are the interrelationships between concepts of faster, better, and cheaper? 3.How does the technical and cultural structure of NASA influence the implementation of Faster, Better, Cheaper? 4.What are the required workforce capabilities to perform Faster, Better, Cheaper in NASA? The theoretical sample for this study consisted of interviews scheduled with NASA personnel involved in Faster, Better, Cheaper projects. NASA documents and reports were analyzed to saturate the initial 29 provisional categories. A representation of the phenomenon of FBC was developed following the data analysis, including causal conditions, strategies, environmental conditions and context, and consequences. Several findings addressed the meaning of FBC, the interrelationships between the concepts, the impact of organizational infrastructure, and required workforce capabilities. Topics for future research are the nature of risk in public organizations, tools for aligning and measuring public policy alignment and implementation, leadership of public sector teams, and generalizing the findings to other organizations. / Ph. D.

The dissertation focuses on understanding the mothering experience of three internal organizational development consultant/managers who perceive that their experience informed their professional functioning. The questions that guided the study were: (a) What is the mothering experience of the internal organizational development consultant/manager who perceives that her experience informed her professional functioning? and (b) How does the mothering experience inform the professional functioning of the internal organizational development consultant/manager? A case study method using the grounded theory method of data analysis produced three narratives that suggested how the mothering experience influenced consulting and managerial functioning. Three themes emerged; namely: "being fully present," "protecting by fighting for trust and safety / Ph. D.

With people living longer and coming into old age with more diverse relational experiences than previous cohorts (e.g., divorce, cohabitation), researchers anticipate that the so-called baby boomers will be more interested in pursuing romantic relationships in later life than their predecessors. On the other hand, we know that the experience of aging varies among people on the basis of their social locations (e.g., racial, gender, class). As central Appalachia is a place characterized by persistent poverty, I interviewed single, midlife White women from a community in West Virginia (N=11) to investigate (a) their experiences with family life and (b) their expectations for romantic relationships in later life. I used grounded theory methodology to develop a theory of intimacy and family life in central Appalachia. I found that the women who were more integrated into their families of origin had little or no interest in romantic relationships, regardless of their past relationship history. Women who perceived their childhoods as traumatic were less integrated into their families of origin and had a weaker sense of place, but had more interest in finding a romantic partner in later life. I concluded for those with a strong sense of place the importance of the family of origin persisted through midlife and into old age. / Ph. D.

Given the increasing evidence of the benefits of father involvement, this study examined the process of fathering and the contributions to supporting father involvement and father identity. Emerging research in fathering suggests a complex set of contextual factors as influences on father identity and behavior. Social location, identities, and life events provide an opportunity to study variation and change in fathering. Guided by an integrated framework of symbolic interactionism and intersectionality theories, this study examined fathers' needs and desires in parenting programs. To address these needs in the literature, grounded theory methods were employed to analyze data from semi-structured interviews of 50 fathers of infants residing in the Appalachian region of Virginia. Results revealed a process model of fathering consisting of interactions within and between themes of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and institutional and sociocultural domains. The factors of these three domains relate to father identity, meaning making in fatherhood, and enactment of fathering. Within a model of vulnerabilities and resiliencies, two typologies of fathers emerged: the thriving father and the evolving father. Implications for family strengthening programs and future research are explored. / Ph. D.

Disney movies are a vehicle for American culture; however, Disney has lagged behind in representing queer people in their films as protagonists. For this reason, critical scholarship is necessary to understand Disney's role in building, replicating or changing culture. Although some critical work on Disney has focused on gender or race, queer theory is underutilized to understand Disney films, especially in the field of communication. Though much research exists on movies from the Disney Renaissance, relatively few have examined the films released in the past decade in a systematic way, focusing on how the movies may be relatable to queer experiences. This analysis combines a queer theory lens and a grounded theory approach to examine where queer people can find their experiences reflected in the most recent Disney movies, even without openly queer protagonists. The study resulted in the formation of six categories that describe instances of queering and queerness in Disney movies: queering of Disney logic, queering of "appropriate" through mature themes, queering of power and violence, villainous queerness, heroic queerness and queer acceptance. Previous literature and the new categories from this study as a whole suggest that the Walt Disney Company is taking small steps to offer more diverse narratives and subvert expectations in ways that allow queer people to read their experiences in the characters on screen. / Master of Arts / Disney movies are a multi-billion dollar industry (Vary, 2020), and the company has taken steps in recent years to feature more diverse storylines and characters in their animated movies. Despite this, there is yet to be an openly queer protagonist in a Disney animated film. With this fact in mind, this study seeks to find places where queer people can still see themselves and their experiences reflected in the Disney films release in the last decade. These instances range from ambiguity that allows audiences to read a character as similar to themselves to moments that question the power structures that push certain people to the margins of society in the first place. Six categories were created after analysis to describe these moments: the queering of Disney logic, the queering of "appropriate" through mature themes, the queering of power and violence, villainous queerness, heroic queerness and queer acceptance. Taken together, these findings and the previous research on Disney suggests the company is slowly moving to open up storylines to allow more people to see their experiences reflected in the movies.

"Coming out" is a unique experience for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and other sexual minority individuals (LGB+), yet it remains ill-defined within scholarship and is individually focused. This study investigates how same-gender couples negotiate relationship visibility and what motivates them to come out to others. A queer theoretical framework was used to explore how partners do outness. To address the needs of the literature, constructivist grounded theory methods were employed in analyzing the data. These findings showed that the majority of couples believed they had a "mutual understanding" of the rules and boundaries in place for relational visibility. In addition, the ways in which different individuals felt compelled to come out or stay in was impacted by their connection to the historical context of the Gay Rights movement. Clinical implications to help clinicians between in assessment and conceptualization in their work with members of the population were determined. / Ph. D.

Yes / We contribute to research on cooperative resilience by examining how their main advantage of social foundations may facilitate the assembly of resilience capabilities. Drawing from the social capital literature, we focus on the strategies and activities of a nationally known rural cooperative in Indonesia to reveal social capital mechanisms, specifically channeling and targeting social capital, that underlie diverse sets of resilience capabilities. By conceptualizing cooperative resilience according to cooperatives’ dual objectives of economic and social viability, we build an empirically grounded framework that encompasses social capital-driven mechanisms that underlie cooperative resilience. Economically, strengthening social capital (channeling) may result in organizational transparency and collaborative work, while widening social networks (targeting) develops velocity and flexibility. Socially, both mechanisms lead to the emergence of individual-level resilience capabilities. Our study informs business research on resilience by conceptualizing it in the context of cooperatives and shedding light on its underlying social capital-driven mechanisms.

Objetivos: Esta pesquisa enquadra-se como uma relevante e necessária proposta de continuidade e avanço dos estudos sobre as repercussões de sentido do estímulo contraintuitivo na comunicação publicitária brasileira. As articulações a serem produzidas pela sua execução contribuirão com os estudos dos Meios e da Produção Mediática que abordam a publicidade como objeto, visto que a originalidade desta investigação é colaborar para a construção de um estudo substantivo sobre as experiências de recepção da publicidade contraintuitiva por mulheres brasileiras (brancas e negras), compreendendo pelos seus olhares os significados e repercussões em estereótipos tradicionais associados à mulher negra. Com outras palavras, esta pesquisa apresenta uma proposta de explicação sobre os nexos de sentido que são produzidos quando da interação de mulheres brasileiras com narrativas publicitárias contraintuitivas que apresentam mulheres negras como protagonistas de seus discursos. Referencial Teórico e Metodologia: este trabalho configura-se como uma investigação qualitativa orientada pela interligação teórica das perspectivas do Interacionismo Simbólico e dos Estudos da Recepção (Midiatização, Mediações e Interação), com foco nas influências da mídia na (re)elaboração das identidades sociais, enquanto referencial teórico basilar e pela Grounded Theory Construtivista, como abordagem metodológica. Resultados: A construção dos resultados desta pesquisa possibilitou a articulação do modelo teórico representativo EXPERIÊNCIAS DE INTERAÇÃO DE MULHERES BRASILEIRAS COM ANÚNCIOS CONTRAINTUITIVOS. Este modelo está estruturado por duas categorias centrais: uma de caráter geral, que expressa as experiências de mulheres brancas e negras, denominada DIMENSÃO SÓCIO-EMOCIONAL CATÁRTICA NO IMAGINÁRIO e a outra, de viés mais específico, que articula as experiências de mulheres negras, identificada no estudo como EXPERIÊNCIA DA DOR DO RACISMO E OS EFEITOS DE ANÚNCIOS CONTRAINTUITIVOS PARA SUA REDUÇÃO. / Objectives: This investigation is a relevant and necessary proposal to continue and to advance the studies about repercussions concerning counterintuitive stimulus in the Brazilian advertising communication. Articulations that will be produced due to its execution will contribute to the studies of Means and Media Production, which consider advertising as an object, since the originality of this investigation is to collaborate for the construction of a substantive theory about the experiences of counterintuitive advertising reception by Brazilian women (white and black). It will be possible to understand through their looks the meanings and repercussions in traditional stereotypes associated with black woman. In other words, this research presents an explanation proposal about the meaning links that are produced when there is interaction of Brazilian women with counterintuitive advertising narratives, which show black women as protagonists of their speeches. Theoretical background and Methodology: This paper is established as a qualitative investigation oriented by the theoretical interconnection of perspectives of Symbolic Interactionism and Reception Studies (Mediatization, Mediations, and Interaction), focused on influences of the media in the (re)elaboration of social identities, as basilar theoretical referential, and through the Constructivist Grounded Theory, as a methodological approach. Results: Development of the results of this research enabled the articulation of the representative theoretical model INTERACTION EXPERIENCES OF BRAZILIAN WOMEN WITH COUNTERINTUITIVE ADVERTISING. This model has two central categories: one of general character that expresses the experiences of white and black women, called CATARTIC SOCIOEMOTIONAL DIMENSION IN THE IMAGINARY, and another with a more specific bias that articulates the experiences of black women, identified in the study as EXPERIENCE OF RACISM PAIN AND EFFECTS OF COUNTERINTUITIVE ADS FOR ITS DECREASE.