<p> Employee engagement is a relatively new construct in academic literature and an increasingly popular idea in practice. Proponents of employee engagement claim a strong positive relationship between engagement and business success, both at the firm and individual levels, and outcomes including retention, productivity, profitability, and customer loyalty and satisfaction. Despite numerous academic and practitioner publications on employee engagement, no consistently-accepted conceptualization of the construct or its sub-dimensions exists, and there is an ongoing debate regarding whether the employee engagement construct is a new idea or a re-hashing of old ideas. Similarly, no consistently-accepted tool to measure employee engagement exists. In the absence of consistent conceptualization and measurement, relationships between employee engagement and its antecedents and outcomes cannot be empirically tested. Drawing on prior literature and practitioner interviews, the present study defines employee engagement as an attitude towards one&rsquo;s work at one&rsquo;s company, comprising feelings of vigor, dedication, and absorption; cognitive appraisals of psychological empowerment; and motivation to act, both within role and extra role, in the service of the organization&rsquo;s goals. In addition, the present study validates a self-report instrument to measure this conceptualization of employee engagement, using construct and scale validation procedures accepted in marketing and information systems literature.</p>

<p> The goal of this study is to determine the effectiveness of social media in advancing transformational change. Successfully implementing transformational change in an organization is heavily dependent on the support of key stakeholders. But engaging those stakeholders requires effective communication. Transformational efforts often fail because of the lack of credible communication or a failure to define a vision that can be easily communicated (Kotter, 2007). </p><p> Researchers say that the key to successful transformational change is embracing a communication based in the realm of conversation where there is genuine two-way dialogue that is focused on listening and probing for more information (Dobbs, 2010). Creating conversations is a key component of social media: a platform of online tools designed to connect people and easily share information (Jue, Marr &amp; Kassotakis, 2010). Social media has the potential to achieve employee engagement, enhance productivity and increase collaboration (Ou, C. J., Davison, R. M., Zhong, X., &amp; Liang, Y.,2010). </p><p> To determine the effectiveness of social media at driving transformational change a study of existing literature related to transformational change and social media was coupled with a qualitative and quantitative study of organizational users of social media and stakeholders of those organizations. The study employed both a questionnaire and interviews. Results showed a clear preference for the use of social media as an effective form of relationship development and effective communication, but a challenge remains on how organizations can best use social media to create and sustain the relationships required to accomplish transformational change.</p>

<p> For global companies to continue to grow, members must work and/or lead virtually. The purpose of my research was based on a two-dimensional model for measuring successful projects among virtual team members: effective communication and cultural intelligence (CQ) for team members working in a global pharmaceutical company. The main focus was on project management team members who work on global virtual teams and their team managers who lead global virtual teams. Currently, there is very limited empirical research that focuses on the relationship between cultural intelligence, effective communication within virtual teams, and successful projects. The researcher used triangulation mixed methods to explore the interrelationship among all three elements. It was hypothesized that all three elements are interrelated. Surveys on all three elements were used to assess both global leaders and project management team members who manage and lead projects virtually, working in collaboration with their global counterparts. Based on both the quantitative and qualitative results of the data, as well as the result of this interrelationship, further training on openness and global identity, adjustment to the current strategy, and education of all project management team members could then be recommended. If no difference in the collaboration level is found based on a high level of CQ, then additional opportunities for CQ would be recommended to the organization leadership. </p>

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the internal communication at Raiffeisenbank a.s., identify strengths and weaknesses and suggest measures to streamline the communication process between the target groups of internal communication. Theoretical bases are prepared using available literature and Internet resources devoted to internal communication. The practical part is to evaluate the results of the survey made among the selected employees of the bank.

The role of visual communication design continues to increase in importance around the world. In Bahrain, organisations are increasingly considering visual communication design as a means of accomplishing organisational goals. The research aims to understand the process by which design managers in organisations in Bahrain manage and evaluate visual communication designs to gain strategic advantage. Even though the management of visual communication design has not yet been recognised as a separate category of design management in Bahrain, its processes and approaches may differ from other management applications. This research opens with a contextual overview of the visual communication design management field, before presenting an understanding of how visual communication design can be utilised as an innovative approach to the strategic structuring organisational thinking. Methods have been developed for investigating how Bahraini client design managers manage visual communication design projects. Observational studies and interviews with client design managers and creative directors have been conducted to obtain an understanding of the visual communication design process, together with evaluation procedures in the Bahraini context. These empirical investigations have led to the development of a conceptual framework that describes the visual communication design management process and the evaluation procedure that is carried out by client design managers in Bahrain. The remainder of this thesis explains the outcomes of each phase of the research. The unique contributions of this study are embodied in a discussion of the findings together with reflections and recommendations for those involved and interested in design management in Bahrain.

Kofola shows a perfect example of a successful brand revival and its further development. It prooves, that brand's history and knowledge are just one of many factors contributing to bilding a strong brand. The most important is the whole process of effective and strategic brand management. This diploma thesis analyzes the strategic brand management of Kofola. Its goal is to reveal the main keys to success standing behind both the brand's and the company's results. At the same time, several imperfections and unused opportunities are uncovered and on their basis recommendations for improvement are made. Part of the thesis deals with an own marketing research, based on a questionnaire method. The questionnaire focuses mainly on perception of Kofola's image and the way of presenting it in the last summer campaign. Based on the questionnaire results there is a hypothesis examined that people perceive Kofola's "retro" image positively and that this way of communication is the right way also for the future.

Relaying information from a Chief Communications Officer (CIO), or centralized communications departments to hospital employees is not always efficient or effective. Employees may not be informed of important changes to department protocols or hospital policies. The purpose of the study was to determine the most efficient and effective forms of internal communications in the hospital setting. A total of 83 surveys were mailed to communication officers working in Tennessee hospitals in and east of Nashville. Sixteen communication officers responded. This low response rate may be attributed to poor designation of communication responsibilities and an abdication of responsibilities to an off campus (corporate) source. One significant difference was found regarding the preference of supervisor contact to relay feedback in the age groups of 31-40 and 51-60. Those 31-40 were less likely to prefer direct supervisor contact as their favored communications channel as opposed to 51-60 year olds who favored this method.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 180-187).

Thesis (Ph.D. (Management)) - Rhodes University, 2008.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-109). Also available on the Internet.