Thesis (M.S.)--Central Connecticut State University, 2003. / Thesis advisor: Jane Fried. " ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Student Development in Higher Education." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-83). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Title from PDF of title page. Document formatted into pages; contains 295 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis presents a continuation study about the diffusion of innovation in the manufacturing companies. The focus of this study is the diffusion of innovation in technology and CAD is the selected technology that is widely used in the manufacturing companies. The foundation of this study is the previous work that has been conducted by Jan Löwstedt and Christer Norr in 1991 that explained about the diffusion of technology during that time. Thereafter, technology has experienced a rapid change. There is not a continuation study afterwards. The purpose of this study is to see how the technology has changed and how people use it over time, and what driving forces are behind it, so an extension information for the PLC perspective can be formed. Theoretical framework was built by analyzing the previous studies as the foundation to see what has changed over time. The concept of the diffusion of innovation, PLC, and the development of CAD in terms of technical and organizational perspective wise from several researchers are also disclosed to support the empirical findings. The approach of this study is based on a qualitative study where empirical data are collected through interviewing Swedish manufacturing companies that use CAD in their companies. The result of this study reveals that the usage of CAD technically is not dramatically changed: it is still mainly in providing a visceral visualization. But, the paradigm shifting in utilizing CAD in the organization is worth exploring. Where it is triggered by the need to get more advanced technology-wise. The diffusion of technology could contribute the paradigm shifting in the way of working. This study shows that the companies tend to maximize the result of the technology by integrating the result not exclusively only for the design department, but also for other parties such as: the engineering calculation department and customers. However, this study could present a sharper pattern if there were more companies that were in the early stage of CAD as the source of information.

<p> This multi-site case study explored the role that a global nonprofit organization plays in decreasing the gap of inequality and contributing to the greater society. This research identified what processes were used to implement, increase, or alter the global CSR efforts. This research identified how global CSR efforts impact and is impacted by the organizational culture. In addition, the study explored how CSR efforts have changed or expanded to meet the demands of a globalized society, with a particular focus on the mutual relationship between these expanded efforts and the organizational culture. It studied the internal impact of the CSR efforts as well as how the organization relates externally. This qualitative study made use of three sources of data: semistructured interviews, document and artifact analysis, and observations. The use of various methods of data collection ensures reliability and trustworthiness and adds to the thick description of the case. The findings in this multi-site case study provided an understanding of how a global non-profit organization implements or expands social responsibility efforts. </p><p> This exploratory study yielded seven major conclusions. The conclusions operationalize to meet the organizational needs and the processes used to implement. The seven conclusions are 1) The organization's CSR efforts impact organizational culture including artifacts espoused values and basic assumptions 2) The impact was reciprocal as the organizational culture impacted their CSR efforts 3) CSR efforts reflect the needs of society and adapt to meet societal needs to balance the organization's internal culture and external image 4) Senior leadership and policy volunteers are instrumental to the implementation of CSR efforts throughout the organization as well as to the organizational culture 5) Partnering with organizations increases their CSR efforts and result in better serving their community and organizational needs 6) CSR processes increase awareness and impact to promote goodwill locally and globally and 7) CSR efforts need to be included in the organization's strategic plan and align with the mission and vision of the organization.</p>

<p> Throughout the Cold War, the United States maintained a military prepared to confront a technologically advanced Soviet adversary. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the structure and purpose of the armed forces were called into question. In time, the U.S. military transformed from one prepared to conduct large-scale war, to one prepared to carry out a variety of missions ranging from war to humanitarian efforts. Throughout the 1990s, the U.S. Army's senior leaders engaged in a campaign to transform the organization from its warrior-oriented mindset to a service-oriented one. I report in this dissertation my findings from an analysis of the efforts of the Army's senior leaders in support of this transformation from 1991 to 1995. Specifically, I report my findings from an analysis of the discursive dimensions of their efforts.</p><p> Theoretically, this dissertation contributes to two emergent perspectives in organizational analysis: the institutional logics and institutional work perspectives. These perspectives highlight the fact that individual and collective actors are not only influenced by the structural, normative, and symbolic dimensions (i.e., the institutional logic) of the institutional environments in which they act, but those environments are shaped by their actions (by institutional work). Through my analysis of the efforts of the Army's senior leaders to disrupt and replace the Cold War institutional logic, I identified three distinct forms of institutional work. Environment work included efforts to construct an extra-organizational environment that demands change, and an intra-organizational environment hospitable to change. Organizational identity work involved the establishment of an organizational sense of self that encompassed new practices. Institutional logic work involved a recursive process of textualization that established a post-Cold War logic constituted in a well-structured discourse. </p><p> In conclusion, I consider the institutional work I identified as situated within the institutional field of the armed forces. I demonstrate how the management of organizational change can influence the logic that prevails within the broader institutional field. I conclude by highlighting the utility of focusing on the organizational level of analysis in studies of institutional change, and the benefits of considering the institutional logics and institutional work perspectives as complementary.</p>

These qualitative case studies explore the experiences of leaders of local and international secondary schools in Hong Kong. The research questions guiding this study centre on Principal leadership during times of crisis and sought to explore how crisis was managed effectively and how if faced with a similar crisis could be improved. The author was interested in finding a similarity between the participant’s responses and whether external influences may have played a significant part their decision-making. The study also explores the relationship of leadership under crisis communication between Principal and staff and Principal and parents. The primary focus of this research is to understand if there was anything learnt during these crisis experiences among the participants as they relate to leadership development. The analysis of data resulted in the emergence of six primary themes: 1) the impact and extent of effective decision making under crises, 2) the quality of leadership after crisis experience and the ensuing consideration of what leadership means, 3) the role of teachers and administrators throughout the crisis, 4) the experiences related to improved leadership development and 5) correct communication among stakeholders, parents, students and staff. These themes were synthesized into three areas of discussion. First, the experiences and perspectives of the participants offer a unique, first hand, framework for exploring what leadership means in a time of crisis. Second, these same experiences begin to shed new light on the role of Principals in times of crisis. Third, the participants’ reflections on experiences related to leadership development provide a bridge between the ideas related to how leadership is learned and how these experiences become meaningful during times of crisis. The results reflect a need for further qualitative research into Principal crisis leadership as well as the opportunity to further examine the leadership role of educational leaders in crisis situations. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

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<p>This is a grounded theory study of how scholar-practitioners simultaneously help clients generate results and create new knowledge. Through a set of 41 interviews, it examines the roles of scholar-practitioners in organization development and medical translational research, compares the strategies and tactics they use in each field, and considers how they renew themselves professionally and personally. It shows how these professionals perform varying combinations of three roles: research, teaching and applied field work. They have developed different work habits, ways of thinking and even ways of being than their colleagues who focus on just one of those areas in either field, and have a set of personal characteristics including being agile/adaptive, collaborative, holistic, passionate and wise, which empower their use of self in helping their clients or patients. It shows how strategies and tactics are employed in the translation of theory to practice and vice versa, which had not been done previously, and develops a new Knowledge-Results Circular Flow Model to connect all the aspects of their work with their clients to generate client-determined results and new knowledge in an ongoing iterative process. Last, but not least, it shows that scholar-practitioners in these two fields are much more similar than different, and can learn from each other to strengthen both the knowledge they generate via their research, and the client/patient results that are the focus of their work. </p>

<p> Research has shown that the United States governments have spent a considerable amount of human and financial resources on transformational leadership initiatives, aimed at improving outcomes within the federal, state and local governments. Transformational leadership holds the answers to those seeking to develop and foster effective leadership traits that are common and valued in public sector organizations. Research has also shown that the concepts of transformational leadership are among the most popular and current approaches to understand effective leadership in organizations. This quantitative study is an attempt to compare the perception of transformational leadership traits from middle-level managers and supervisors across the three levels of government in the United States. The study used Avolio &amp; Bass Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Form 5X (MLQ) to assess the perceived transformational leadership traits demonstrated by leaders within the federal, state and local government. Transformational leadership comprises five dimensions, which are idealized influence attributes, idealized influence behavior, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. A total of 725 employees from federal, state and local government participated in the study. The hypotheses for the study were tested using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The study concluded that while there was no significant difference in the perceived transformational traits among the three levels of government in the United States, the results also indicated that there is need for a higher level of transformational leadership practices across the three levels of government in the United States. </p>

<p> The realization of growth synergies across products and services in a global multi-unit firm is a topic of discovery that has substantial implications for the profitability of multi-national corporations. A driver for the realization of this incompletely tapped potential is the influence of organizational design. The scholar comprehensively examines a singular case study in which a multidimensional organizational design is used to exploit growth synergies in a global multi-unit firm. For many firms, collaboration is connected to synergy realization, which is critical to growth in saturated and emerging markets. Cross-business unit strategy research has been largely focused on diversification rather than on synergies. Additionally, the literature addresses synergy realization in very turbulent or static markets; however, in this case, the scholar illustrates how a multi-unit firm in a moderately dynamic market attempted to exploit growth synergy opportunities through (a) focused action, (b) the application of an organizational design that exploits decentralized collaboration, (c) lateral support mechanisms that preserve business unit (BU) self-interest, (d) a designed relationship with the corporate center, and (e) a singular context with clients. The intent of these actions is to enhance profitability theory by analyzing rapid evolutionary change in an integrated global value chain. This study attempts to show whether or not a multi-unit firm made of business units that are related diversifiers can be combined, or recombined, to exploit complementary resources. Furthermore, this study advances emerging research on the exploitation of multidimensional organizational design, its dynamic capabilities, co-evolutionary organization-wide change leadership, and cross-unit innovation.</p>