Research report presented to the Unisa School of Business Leadership / The purpose of the research is an investigation into how employee involvement can be used as a tool towards raising levels of engagement within actively disengaged employees at Ngwane Mills.

No description available.

abstract: This action research study took a mixed methods approach to examine junior and senior student engagement at the honors college in the downtown campus of Arizona State University. The purpose of the study was to better understand the lack of engagement with junior and senior students within the college. The study sought to examine the usage of year specific programs and the possibility of influence on the target populations’ engagement. In addition, the study focused on understanding the usage of such programs and its ability to influence student perception of coping with transitions. The growth of honors education and the value of student engagement lead the study. Life Hacks is a series of programs designed to engage the target population by addressing an anticipated transition. This study focused on exploring junior and senior honors student engagement and the utilization of programs to address the student’s ability to cope with transitions. The program was divided into six workshops that spanned the semester and were taught by college partners who were deemed a resource on the subject matter. Two surveys were deployed: one at the beginning of the semester and the other at the end of the semester. Participants were selected based on their academic status as a junior or senior within the honors college on campus and their age rage. All participants traditionally matriculated from high school and were between the ages of 18-25. Two focus groups, with a total of eight participants (4 juniors and 4 seniors), were conducted at the end of the semester to gather qualitative data. Findings indicated that participants allowed their emotions to influence their ability to cope with transitions. Relationships with peers and staff were important to decision making processes and network building for junior and senior participants. Students within the study set expectations for the college and themselves that influence how they relate to college and their relation to adulthood. The implications of practice that resulted from the study involved improving student access to information and assisting students with understanding the need for the resource and how to apply it to their current and future challenges. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2019

This study investigates the transactional relationship between father involvement and adolescent self-disclosure from early to midadolescence. Four hundred and ninety-six adolescents reported on their general self-disclosure to fathers, and mothers reported on father involvement behaviors and maternal involvement behaviors at ages 11, 13, and 15. Results from a longitudinal cross-lagged model indicated a unidirectional relationship from father involvement to child self-disclosure in both early and midadolescence, and a transactional relationship from adolescent self-disclosure to father involvement in early adolescence. A multiple group analysis by gender revealed that both unidirectional and transactional relationships were significant for boys only. Future research efforts should be sensitive to developmental changes and gender differences within father-child communication processes across adolescence.

The purpose of this study was to explore whether Latino parent perception of their involvement in their elementary child’s education affect their child’s behavior in the classroom. Previous research has demonstrated that parent involvement in education enhances the academic, socioemotional, and behavioral outcomes of children (Matingly et al., 2013). The current study utilized the qualitative method to examine Latino parent perception of school involvement and its relationship to child’s classroom behavior. Results from interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Findings of this study suggest that a relationship exists between parent perception of involvement in child’s education and child’s classroom behavior. Findings revealed three major themes: perception of parent involvement, communication and barriers. Results may bring awareness to the Latino community of how parent involvement can impact behavior and lead to mental health implications. Findings may influence social workers to change school policies, develop new programs and to refer them to adequate services.

The pursuit of higher education has become a highly desirable aspiration for many children in the United States, yet majority of these children are not provided the opportunity to make this a reality. Research reveal Students of Color and lower socio-economic status are largely under-represented in institutions of postsecondary education (Camacho Liu, 2011; Choy, 2001; U.S. Department of Education, 2001). Latina/o students, in particular, continue to experience some of the lowest levels of educational attainment in this country. Education scholars contend that a college-going culture can help counteract the educational limitations experienced by working-class, Students of Color, and especially first-generation college students. Using a participatory action research approach, this study shows how an inclusive parental engagement framework can push research forward in understanding the experiences of an educational leader and Latina/o parents. As they collaborate to co-develop strategies to support college-going practices within an elementary school, parental engagement is key. Data collected from two focus group interviews were analyzed for salient themes and findings pertaining to parental engagement and practices supporting higher educational attainment for Latina/o students. These findings indicate Latina/o parents experience an increase of knowledge regarding higher educational opportunities for their children. Furthermore, when parents gained important knowledge about postsecondary education, this resulted in additional collaborative efforts. For example, the collaborative development of a survey instrument aimed to determine the varying levels of college knowledge needs experienced by parents of elementary school aged children. The objective is to critically understand the intent of developing and implementing college-going practices by an (1) educational administrator and Latina/o parents within an elementary school.

Parental involvement is integral to promoting a high quality school environment. A lack of parent involvement is a problem that currently exists in an urban, public elementary school in Texas. This issue is important because once the parents increase their engagement, the home school relationship can be improved. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate how pre-kindergarten parents at the study elementary school perceive parent involvement and how principals and teachers at the school can help parents improve their involvement. This study is based upon Epstein's theory of 6 types of parent involvement. This study examined parents' perceptions of the role of parental involvement in children's education and the strategies that schools may use to boost parental involvement. Over the course of the 9-month school year, individual interviews were conducted with 14 parents whose children attended the prekindergarten program at this school in Texas. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes. Parents considered their involvement to be important and appreciated receiving school information through phone conferences, newsletters, and an online portal. Parents also reported that health issues, time restraints, and busy work schedules were obstacles to being more involved. Recommendations for improving parental involvement included parent workshops on academic strategies and programming that is scheduled after school to accommodate parents' schedules. This study could contribute to positive social change by encouraging parental involvement at the study site. Additionally, this study could enhance positive social change by encouraging the educational sector to focus on building effective school/family partnerships.

Despite evidence demonstrating the positive impact of parental involvement in children's education, youth transitioning from elementary school to middle school are often extended a greater level of autonomy. Parental involvement may decrease, which may pose particular challenges to students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The theoretical framework for this study was Bandura's self-efficacy theory which involves positive self-esteem, coping strength, and persistence toward goals. Bandura's ideas help to clarify why self-efficacy plays a role in parental involvement decisions. Through a multiple case study method, seven parents of middle school youth with ADHD, were interviewed through four open ended questions about self-efficacy as it relates to their decision to assist their youth with homework completion. Data were organized by question and the interview responses were manually analyzed. The coding process included identifying commonalities and differences, analyzing content, and synthesizing and validating themes regarding parental self-efficacy and decision-making experiences. Findings revealed that for parents, frustration with the lack of school communication and homework overload were significant concerns, and although efficacy played a role in the decision to assist with homework, the primary impetus was the desire to save their youth from emotional turmoil and academic failure. Implications for positive social change include the need for proactive communication and collaboration by schools with parents and more middle school programs to support youth with ADHD. Including parents as partners in youth education may ease the difficulty of transition to middle school and help reduce school failure and dropout rates among youth with ADHD.

The U.S. government has stated in federal guidelines that parents must be involved in their children's education in order for student achievement to increase. For more than 5 years, a small rural middle school in Mississippi was designated a low-performing school due to its failure to achieve the required standards for quality distribution index and adequate yearly progress on the Mississippi Curriculum Test, 2nd Edition. The purpose of this study was to examine whether parents' and teachers' perspectives regarding parental involvement and student achievement differed at the school. Epstein's theoretical framework was used as the basis for this quantitative study. Quantitative data from 250 parents and 28 teachers were gathered on the effectiveness of home-school collaboration for 4th through 8th-grade students. A t test was used to determine if there were significant differences in parents' and teachers' perspectives regarding parental involvement and student achievement. There was a statistically significant difference (p < .001) between parents' and teachers' perspectives, whereas the teachers' attitudes were higher regarding their general attitude of parental involvement, parental involvement practices, and parental responsibilities. Based on study findings, a 3-day professional development/training curriculum and materials project was developed to assist teachers at the school with developing strategies for increasing parental involvement and student achievement. This study could possibly contribute to positive social change by increasing teachers' understanding of parents' needs and enhancing their ability to effectively communicate with them, which may lead to more involvement by parents in their children's education and higher achievement by students.

Organisational ambidexterity is considered a key to company survival and performance. Despite this, organisational ambidexterity is still a poorly understood phenomenon, especially in an SME context. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate how the compliance with ambidextrous elements is perceived at different levels in manufacturing SMEs, to increase the understanding of organisational ambidexterity in this context. The empirical data was collected through a combination of questionnaire and interview. The case companies in this report perceive that they comply stronger with contextual elements than with structural elements. The strong compliance with contextual elements is motivated by the lack of hierarchies, flexibility in the company, different management structure and low number of employees. This allows employees to perform the contextual elements such as initiative-taking, cooperating, brokering and multitasking. The structural elements including e.g. vision, values, strategies, senior team responsibility and alignment are perceived differently at different  hierarchal levels, indicating that there are subcultures within the hierarchal levels within a company. The biggest difference can be found between the middle managers and the top managers,. Workers perceive that they are not included in explorationb within the company, and that the exploration occur more sporadically than those for exploitation. The definitions of exploration and exploitation vary between the companies which results in a lack of consensus. This makes it difficult for the companies to perform the changes necessary in order to develop and achieve long-term sustainable growth i.e. economical sustainability. The managerial implication of this report concerns four actions: (1) create a common definition for exploration, (2) develop goals for exploration, (3) communicate for buy-in and (4) involve all employees.