This thesis develops the theoretical foundation of the strategic-culture paradigm. This model focuses attention upon culture and appeals to the profit requisite associated with commercial activities, and is an integrator of business / domestic cultural expectations. I describe culture as an organizational attribute integral to behavior and strategy which represents a potentially powerful resource facilitating operational effectiveness, sustained competitive advantage, and increased business social accountability. This explanation relies upon conceptualizing culture at both the national and company level, and then explicating the dependent interplay between these realms. Specifically, I submit that corporations who establish and continually adapt their culture with the aim of striving to maintain a fit with the domestic context are more inclined to realize opportunities, attract customers, and endure unanticipated business environmental pressures. Using information collected on Nucor Steel and Southwest Airlines, I provide a preliminary assessment of the virtues of the strategic-culture model as it relates to explaining these firms and their operations.

My dissertation focuses on the role of incentives in the workplace. In Chapter 1, I study peer effects in pay-for-individual-performance jobs. Specifically, I explore whether, how, and why coworker performance matters when rewards are based on individual performance. When teamed with high-performing peers, I find that workers are more productive overall. I also find that workers who resign are unaffected by coworker performance in the period after they hand in their resignation notice. The findings suggest peer effects in pay-for-individual-performance jobs reflect reputational concerns about relative performance rather than competitive preferences. In Chapter 2, I present field evidence that sheds new light on incentive provision in multitask jobs. Specifically, I design and conduct a field experiment at a large-scale restaurant, where the pre-existing wage contract encourages workers to carry out their tasks in a way that is not perfectly aligned with the firm's preferences. The experimental treatment pays bonuses to waiters for the number of customers they serve, in addition to their tips for customer service and hourly wages. I compare worker performance under the treatment to that under the pre-existing contract, where workers are rewarded for overemphasizing customer service, to evaluate the effect of a wage contract that encourages undesirable behavior. I find that the average worker earns more, is more productive, and generates higher short-run profits for the firm when paid bonuses for customer volume. Overall, the findings suggest that sharpening wage contracts to deal with incentive problems in multitask jobs has benefits for workers as well as the firm. In Chapter 3, I present joint work (with Arvind N. Magesan at the University fo Calgary) on the beauty premium's role in the workplace. Specifically, we investigate whether, how, and why the beauty premium can be explained by the behaviour of workers after they are hired. We find that attractive workers earn more because they transfer effort from tasks that reward looks to tasks that reward effort. We also provide evidence against favorable treatment by customers and the employer as sources for the beauty premium. We conclude that the premium is largely driven by the worker's on-the-job behavior.

My dissertation focuses on the role of incentives in the workplace. In Chapter 1, I study peer effects in pay-for-individual-performance jobs. Specifically, I explore whether, how, and why coworker performance matters when rewards are based on individual performance. When teamed with high-performing peers, I find that workers are more productive overall. I also find that workers who resign are unaffected by coworker performance in the period after they hand in their resignation notice. The findings suggest peer effects in pay-for-individual-performance jobs reflect reputational concerns about relative performance rather than competitive preferences. In Chapter 2, I present field evidence that sheds new light on incentive provision in multitask jobs. Specifically, I design and conduct a field experiment at a large-scale restaurant, where the pre-existing wage contract encourages workers to carry out their tasks in a way that is not perfectly aligned with the firm's preferences. The experimental treatment pays bonuses to waiters for the number of customers they serve, in addition to their tips for customer service and hourly wages. I compare worker performance under the treatment to that under the pre-existing contract, where workers are rewarded for overemphasizing customer service, to evaluate the effect of a wage contract that encourages undesirable behavior. I find that the average worker earns more, is more productive, and generates higher short-run profits for the firm when paid bonuses for customer volume. Overall, the findings suggest that sharpening wage contracts to deal with incentive problems in multitask jobs has benefits for workers as well as the firm. In Chapter 3, I present joint work (with Arvind N. Magesan at the University fo Calgary) on the beauty premium's role in the workplace. Specifically, we investigate whether, how, and why the beauty premium can be explained by the behaviour of workers after they are hired. We find that attractive workers earn more because they transfer effort from tasks that reward looks to tasks that reward effort. We also provide evidence against favorable treatment by customers and the employer as sources for the beauty premium. We conclude that the premium is largely driven by the worker's on-the-job behavior.

In 1977, a Seattle judge, exasperated at having to make life-altering decisions for children with little information, founded the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program. In 2010, 75,000 people in 49 states volunteered their time to advocate for a child or sibling set in foster care. This project is aimed at understanding the issues of voice and advocacy imbedded within the organization Advocates For Kids and within the foster care system at large through critical ethnography. Further, this dissertation aspires to illuminate the complex ethics at play in the foster care system. This dissertation seeks to reveal the complicated ways in which the law is enacted by individuals such as foster parents, judges, and lawyers. Specifically, the dissertation provides an in-depth examination of the role of the Court Appointed Special Advocate. CASAs are volunteers trained by the nonprofit organization, Advocates For Kids, who advocate on behalf of children in foster care. I collected data via interviews, observation, document examination, and reflexivity to present a crystallized account of the issues of voice and advocacy in the work of Advocates For Kids. Based on the data, I expound three categories of voice at play in the work of VFC: Imagined Voice, Monitored Voice, and Stifled Voice. I also argue that volunteers intentionally perform privilege in order to ethically advocate for the children with whom they work. The dissertation concludes with a performative script based on the project designed to represent the complexity of the foster care system.

This thesis develops the theoretical foundation of the strategic-culture paradigm. This model focuses attention upon culture and appeals to the profit requisite associated with commercial activities, and is an integrator of business / domestic cultural expectations. I describe culture as an organizational attribute integral to behavior and strategy which represents a potentially powerful resource facilitating operational effectiveness, sustained competitive advantage, and increased business social accountability. This explanation relies upon conceptualizing culture at both the national and company level, and then explicating the dependent interplay between these realms. Specifically, I submit that corporations who establish and continually adapt their culture with the aim of striving to maintain a fit with the domestic context are more inclined to realize opportunities, attract customers, and endure unanticipated business environmental pressures. Using information collected on Nucor Steel and Southwest Airlines, I provide a preliminary assessment of the virtues of the strategic-culture model as it relates to explaining these firms and their operations.

In the provision of public goods such as health care for the uninsured, nonprofit organizations serve important functions in society. Because they often rely on volunteer labor, and funding is frequently unstable, their survival depends on factors not present in either private enterprise or state agencies. This comparison case study examines three clinics, one surviving clinic and two that did not survive, to find patterns that characterize organizational success and survival. Theories about public goods, volunteering, and organizational coordination and communication provide insight into different aspects of the case study. Data was gathered from 19 in-depth interviews with individuals connected to the three clinics. The analysis employs Ostrom’s characterization of eight principles of longstanding common-pool resource organizations, with slight adjustments for the public goods setting. As expected, the successful clinic reflects more of the characteristics, or possesses them to a greater degree, than the unsuccessful ones. Specifically, the successful clinic reflects a greater degree of congruence between organizational rules and local conditions (as evidenced by community support), and collective-choice arrangements (as indicated by the presence of an actively engaged board of directors). In addition, the successful clinic is loosely nested with other organizations, whereas the nonsurviving clinics were more tightly nested within local organizations; the looser nesting allows for greater autonomy in decision-making. Finally, an unexpected finding drawn from the interviews concerns the manner in which the clinics framed their message and mission. The successful clinic framed its mission in terms of serving the “working poor,” whereas the nonsurviving clinics stated their mission as charity for the poor and needy. This variance may have contributed to greater community support for the successful clinic.

Thesis (M.S.) -- University of Portland, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Sept. 23, 2008).

Thesis (M.S.) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2009.

Thesis (M.A.)--Addis Ababa University, 2002. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 144-53).

Thesis (M.S.)--Central Connecticut State University, 2002. / Thesis advisor: Glynis Fitzgerald. " ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Organization Communication." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 37-43). Also available via the World Wide Web.