Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Organization'

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1985.
MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.
Bibliography: leaves 161-165.
by Sheila L. Strain-Bell.
M.C.P.

What does it take for organizations to support people working together effectively? What does it mean for an organization to be effective? Does successful collaboration lead to more effective organizations? This study explored these questions both theoretically and empirically in an effort to help organizations understand the most important aspects to consider when attempting to achieve collaboration for organization success. The purpose of this study was to fill some of the gaps in the research by taking a broad, holistic approach to exploring the context required to support collaboration at levels of organizations broader than the team and exploring the links between organization support of collaboration and organization effectiveness. In preparation for the current study, the Organization Support of Collaboration model was developed to identify the broad organization design elements that are required to support collaboration. The Organization Effectiveness model was created to provide a holistic view of what it takes for an organization to be considered effective. The present study empirically validated these models and explored the links between them. Data was collected via a web-based questionnaire administered to a broad sample of individuals who work in organizations. Results supported a model of Organization Support of Collaboration with six factors (Connect to the Environment, Craft a Culture of Collaboration, Understand Work Processes, Design Using an Array of Structures, Build Shared Leadership, and Align Support Systems) and a model of Organization Effectiveness with six factors (Performance, Employee Involvement, Flexibility, Customer Satisfaction, New Customer Development, and Treatment of People). Connect to the Environment predicted five of the six Organization Effectiveness factors, and Craft a Culture of Collaboration predicted four of the six, notably with a connection to Performance. For the predicted relationships between the models, nine hypotheses were supported, six were not supported, and three unexpected significant relationships were found. Implications for practice and future directions are recommended.

Thesis (M.S. in Systems Technology) Naval Postgraduate School, December 1998.
"December 1998." Thesis advisor(s): Carl R. Jones, John H. Gibson. Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-131). Also available online.

Almost 30 years ago, public relations scholars began to process the idea that the concept of culture was important to public relations practices. In particular, scholars questioned what influence culture might have on the communication process and relationship building between organizations and their stakeholders. Yet, today culture is still an understudied concept in the public relations literature. The purpose of this study is to analyze how of organizational culture, as defined by Sriramesh, J. E. Grunig, and Dozier (1996), is significant to the relationship outcomes in public relations. The theoretical framework for this study consists of organizational culture theory and organization-public relationship theory. A quantitative survey was used to measure an external public's perceptions of organizational culture and organizational-public relationships within an academic department. The research measures of authoritarian/participative culture to determine how it is related to the dimensions of organizational-public relationships, including control mutuality, trust, satisfaction, commitment, communal relationships, and exchange relationships. The results suggest how an organization can utilize perceptions of organizational culture and relationship management from external publics to develop and implement effective communication strategies.

Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar se os valores transmitidos pela Companhia foram internalizados pelos empregados. Foi realizado um estudo de caso em uma empresa de economia mista cujo processo de recrutamento e seleção ocorre via concurso público. Os recém-chegados passam por um período de iniciação, conhecido por Ambientação, a partir do qual valores, comportamentos e normas da Empresa são transmitidos. Depois, participam do Curso de Formação com o objetivo de alinhar conhecimentos básicos e técnicos. Em seguida, ocorre a alocação efetiva na área, a partir da qual os empregados passam a ter contato mais direto com a cultura da Empresa. Durante este estudo, foram realizadas dezesseis entrevistas em profundidade, com empregados que já possuem aproximadamente seis anos de casa e que participaram juntos da Ambientação e do Curso de Formação, objetivando verificar se as táticas de socialização contribuíram para alinhar as expectativas dos empregados às necessidades da Empresa bem como os valores individuais aos valores organizacionais. Os principais resultados da pesquisa sugerem: a) com base nas expectativas dos entrevistados, os empregados ao aceitarem entrar na empresa, enxergavam que poderiam se encaixar no perfil desejável pela Companhia; b) com relação aos valores declarados explicitamente pela Companhia, especialmente, durante a Ambientação e o Curso de Formação, os entrevistados, em geral, compartilham desses valores. Nesse caso, o processo de socialização teve seu papel fundamental em prol do alinhamento cultural; c) com relação aos valores não explícitos, mas presentes na Cultura da Companhia há divergência entre os valores individuais e os organizacionais. A Companhia - ainda que defenda que privilegia competências técnicas, transparência, mobilidade e meritocracia - na prática - apresenta práticas organizacionais diferentes do Discurso.
With this study, we try to analyze if the employees learned about the organizational values. A case s study was conducted in a Brazilian mixed economy Company, where the recruiting process occurs by a public contest. The new employees have to go through a period of initiation, known as Ambientação, from which values, behaviors and rules are transmitted by the Company. Afterwards, they have a training course to get acquaintance with basic and technical issues. Then, they start working on a specific area where, for the first time, they really have contact with the Company s culture. During this study, there have been 16 in-depth interviews with the newcomers who have already worked for 6 years in the Company and attended the same training course when they joined the organization. These interviews were the instrument to measure if the socialization tactics were sufficient to achieve the expectations of the newly employees and the Company needs and also the individual values and organizational values. The results that were achieved suggest: a) based on the employees expectations, they figured that they could fit the company s employees profile; b) according to the Company s explicit values informed during Ambientação and the Training Course the employees accept these values. In this case, the socialization process was important to the cultural alignment; c) concerning the inexplicit values, there is some disagreement between individual and organizational values. The Company although defends technical practices, transparency, mobility and meritocracy really uses different organizational practices.

Communication is usually seen as a tool for success with organizational change. What makes communication so important is that it lays the foundation for the understanding and perception of the organization and the process of change. This study is about communication between the manager and the employee at times of change. The purpose of this study is not primarily to streamline communication in organizational change, but first and foremost to understand how communication works, what perceptions and reactions create communication between both the manager and the employee. The most important lessons come from six people: three managers and three employees' experiences and perceptions of communication in organizational change in a public organization.  In this study, I explore how managers and employees perceive organizational change, what roles they have in change itself, how their communication works. Here I also discuss what it means to lead change for a manager and to follow the leader for an employee. The results of this study show that there are uncertainties in communication and the desire to improve it. Thanks to this study, it is possible to understand how a lack of communication affects the employee in organizational change, while good communication creates the conditions for successful organizational change.

Joint Applied Project
Strategic planning in both Government and private organizations is a standard practice for improving the organization's overall performance. However, there are several studies that indicate the effectiveness of the strategic planning and execution process in private industry is questionable in many cases and for various reasons. At times, the utilization of this tool yields positive results in many companies and organizations. On the other hand, the strategic plan is not utilized and becomes a costly paperweight on a table in the executive suite. Nonetheless, Government agencies have embraced the private sector's ideology of employing the strategic plan and have plowed headlong into the use of this methodology. The goal is to provide the organization with a tool that could help change or improve the direction of the organization. This project examines the implementation of strategic planning in several Government organizations that lacked the requisite direction and vision necessary to improve their performance. Accordingly, this research uncovers difficulties that some Government (Federal) agencies experienced before the implementation of strategic planning. We made note of the strong leadership and visioning that was key in guiding some of the organizations through the development of the strategic planning process. Overall, this project focuses on factors that led to new directions for Government organizations that were in dire need of this tool. It also focuses on the relationship between these factors and the degree of publicness of the agencies, and points out and describes techniques used by Federal agencies to overcome those difficulties and improve their performance.

The primary purpose of this study is to explore financial management strategies among administrators of small nonprofit social services organizations. This study addresses the gap in empirical literature with a specific focus on small nonprofit organizations. This study avers that the available literature on social service organizations is fundamentally flawed. It argues for a reevaluation of the available literature based on apparent errors in methodology and research design. The literature reveals that nonprofit organizational empirical research excludes small nonprofit organizations and disproportionately presents a representation of large- and medium-sized nonprofit organizations as the norm for social service organizational financial operations. Previous studies that explore nonprofit organizational sustainability select organizations with annual revenues or assets at a minimum of $100,000. Furthermore, the empirical research excludes small non-profit organizations by design and offers findings that include generalizations that are erroneously attributable to all nonprofit organizations. This dissertation outlines the aforementioned errors in the first two chapters. In order to appropriately investigate the aforementioned, this study draws upon the Afrocentric Perspective to supplement the dominate focus of the available literature on small nonprofit financial management. In chapter three, this study explains the study’s design rationale and presents this study’s significance to the field of social work administration. Additionally, chapter three elucidates this study’s contributions to nonprofit social service organizational research and knowledge. The research questions consider possible correlations between small nonprofit organizations’ sustainability strategies and social work mangers’ education and experience. The study’s research questions also consider how financial management strategies affect organizational sustainability. The research design notation O occurs through the developed questionnaire titled “Nonprofit Organization Sustainability Survey.” Statistical procedures examined grouped questions by themed content and computed the group variables scales: financial management, business experience, educational influence, organization sustainability strategies, entrepreneur activities, and budget planning. More than two-thirds of respondents reported that they had experiences with establishing a nonprofit organization; however, they are more comfortable working with clients than conducting financial management tasks. Additionally, while nearly all of the respondents believed that they can secure funding for the organization, 60% reported that their organization had challenges with securing funding.

The notion of person-organization fit (P-O fit) is concerned with identifying the antecedents and consequences of compatibility between employees and the organizations in which they work, as part of interactional psychology. Literature on consequences of P-O fit has demonstrated significant relationships with various individual outcomes. The main purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of P-O fit operationalized as value congruence between the employee and the organization, on job satisfaction, organizational commitment and performance of employees working in a public organization at both individual-level and cross-level analysis by utilizing multiple measures of fit. The secondary purpose was to compare multiple measures of fit in terms of their power in predicting individual outcome variables and investigate the level of association between direct and indirect fit and whether direct fit contributed to prediction over and above indirect fit measures. One hundred and eighty employees of a public organization filled out the questionnaire. Cross-level analysis could not be performed because of inadequate level of agreement between respondents. Results revealed that both direct and indirect fit measures were significant predictors of individual outcome variables at individual-level analysis except for supervisor ratings of task performance and overall performance, which were solely predicted by direct fit. Direct fit was the most consistent and effective predictor of individual outcome variables and made a consistent unique contribution to prediction of outcome variables over and above indirect fit measures. The results and implications of the study were discussed and limitations of the study were addressed.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior
The organizational commitment can be conceived as a meaningful liaison between individual and organization, assuming the existence of psychological bonds and significant exchange relationships between both individual and organization. Rego (2003) proposes a study model regarding the organizational commitment and presents six psychological ties between individual and organization, namely: affective commitment, common future, normative commitment, enormous sacrifices, lack of alternatives and psychological absence. Feitosa (2008) adds a tie to the model proposed by Rego (2003): performance expectations or commitment absence. In the study here presented, it was investigated the relation among these psychological bonds and the leadership styles. It was also took in consideration to this analyses the organizational culture. The specific goals of the current research were: to investigate which psychological bonds are significantly related to the leadership styles (transformational leadership, transactional leadership and leadership absence) and in which degree the organizational culture moderate this relationship, as well as to develop a theoretical-methodological model which allows to investigate the interplay among the addressed constructs. The study consists on a cross-sectional survey applied in a large size organization located in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza. The data else collected: a sociodemographic questionnaire; a organizational commitment scale; a leadership scale and organizational culture scale. The study had 205 respondents. The results were statistically analyzed with the support of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, using the following statistical technics: linear correlation, linear regression and moderation analysis. Regarding the results, the following positive and significative correlations were attested: transformational leadership and affective commitment bonds, common future and normative commitment, transactional leadership and the bond of normative commitment; leadership absence and the bonds of alternative lack and psychological absence. Besides, it was observed that the clan type organizational culture was a moderating variable that mitigates the effects of the following relations: transformational leadership and affective commitment, transformational leadership and common future. In addition to the aforementioned results, a theoretical-methodological model was developed with all the elements surveyed. It was also concluded that can be taken in consideration to the elaboration of leadership development programs and human resources management policies aiming their efficacy.
O comprometimento organizacional pode ser compreendido como um vÃnculo significativo entre indivÃduo e organizaÃÃo, pressupondo um elo psicolÃgico e relaÃÃes de trocas entre ambos. Rego (2003) propÃe um modelo de estudo do comprometimento organizacional e apresenta seis laÃos psicolÃgicos entre indivÃduo e organizaÃÃo, a saber: comprometimento afetivo, futuro comum, comprometimento normativo, sacrifÃcios avultados, escassez de alternativas e ausÃncia psicolÃgica. Feitosa (2008) acrescenta um laÃo ao modelo proposto por Rego (2003): expectativas pelo desempenho ou ausÃncia de compromisso. No atual estudo, à investigada a relaÃÃo entre esses laÃos psicolÃgicos e estilos de lideranÃa, considerando tambÃm a funÃÃo da cultura organizacional nessa relaÃÃo. Os objetivos especÃficos da atual pesquisa podem ser descritos como: investigar quais desses laÃos psicolÃgicos se relacionam de maneira significativa aos estilos de lideranÃa (lideranÃa transformacional, lideranÃa transacional e ausÃncia de lideranÃa) e em que grau a cultura organizacional modera essa relaÃÃo, bem como desenvolver um modelo teÃrico-metodolÃgico que possibilite a investigaÃÃo da relaÃÃo entre os construtos abordados. O estudo se constituiu como survey, de corte transversal, aplicado em uma organizaÃÃo de grande porte, localizada em Fortaleza/CE. O instrumento de coleta de dados à composto de: questionÃrio sociodemogrÃfico; escala sobre comprometimento organizacional; escala sobre lideranÃa e escala sobre cultura organizacional. AlcanÃou-se uma amostra de 205 trabalhadores da referida organizaÃÃo. Os resultados foram analisados com base em procedimentos estatÃsticos exploratÃrios e explicativos, utilizando o Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), com as seguintes tÃcnicas estatÃsticas: correlaÃÃo linear, regressÃo linear e anÃlise de moderaÃÃo. No que concerne aos resultados obtidos, foram atestadas as seguintes correlaÃÃes positivas e significativas: lideranÃa transformacional com os laÃos de comprometimento afetivo, futuro comum e comprometimento normativo; lideranÃa transacional com o laÃo de comprometimento normativo; ausÃncia de lideranÃa com os laÃos de escassez de alternativas e ausÃncia psicolÃgica. Ademais, observou-se que a cultura organizacional tipo clà atuou como variÃvel moderadora reduzindo os efeitos nas relaÃÃes seguintes: lideranÃa transformacional e comprometimento afetivo e entre lideranÃa transformacional e futuro comum. AlÃm dos resultados apontados, foi desenvolvido um modelo teÃrico-metodolÃgico com todos os elementos pesquisados. Observou-se que tais resultados podem ser considerados para a elaboraÃÃo de programas de desenvolvimento de lideranÃa e polÃticas de gestÃo e de recursos humanos da organizaÃÃo visando sua eficÃcia.

The claim that there is a need for continuous organizational change has become a modern day cliche. In particular it has been taken up by influential management gurus who have provided popular versions of debates that have been going on within the academic literature for numerous years. The most influential of these debates is that of the post-bureaucratic organization. This shares with the guru models of change the assumption that a radical epochal transition is taking place in the way organizations and working relationships are structured. However despite the attention which these claims have received there is still relatively little detailed empirical evidence against which to evaluate them.

This project examined the impacts of an organization identity intervention on workers’ commitment during large-scale transformational change at a financial services company. A 21-member information technology team was recruited for the study. Commitment was measured using a quantitative instrument and the events and data collected during the identity intervention were described. Participants generally enjoyed the intervention, although team members grew increasingly negative over the course of the event due to past experiences with similar interventions. Commitment was consistent across both groups and remained unchanged across the study period. The study organization is advised to assure that its leaders support and are prepared to respond to the results of any interventions conducted and take measures to nurture participants’ existing affective commitment. Continued research is needed to evaluate the impacts of the identity intervention on commitment. Such studies are advised to utilize a larger sample and to measure organizational commitment using mixed methods.

Background: Today companies operate in a market that increasingly is becoming global, and where technological development is advancing ever faster. Global competition, shorter product life cycles and constant reorganization of business puts increasing demands on companies and projects that are under their control. As a result of this trend more and more organizations in different industries are working on a project basis.

Objective: To identify and address the strengths and weaknesses of project based organizations.

Boundaries: Three business units within different companies will be analyzed in order to deduct a conclusion to the research question.

Method: A qualitative method has been used. The empirical material was analyzed based on theory.

Results: A project based organization promotes higher flexibility in comparison to a functional organization. The organizational structure of a project based organization provides employees with interesting tasks and the possibility to work in and learn from cross functional teams. Although this has a negative impact on ones work life balance. A key weakness is the organizational integration, which includes: knowledge management, implementation of strategies and focus beyond projects, resource coordination and human resource management.

Proposal for further research: An in-depth study on how project based organizations promote innovation.

This study is primarily about the Open Organisations Profile, a questionnaire developed in the United States by Professor Oscar Mink (1991) to assess openness in the workplace and thus assist in decisions on organisational change and development. The Open Organisations Profile was developed as an assessment tool of the Open Organisations theoretical model. The Open Organisations Model offers researchers a lens to assess an organisational system and the system’s ability to adapt to internal and external changes in its environment, while maintaining a sense of unity.While the Open Organisations Profile has been used extensively in Australia and the United States of America, limited research has examined its psychometric properties. This current set of studies aimed to examine the psychometric qualities of the instrument. The first study examined the reliabilities and factor structure of the Open Organisations Profile. Results indicated that the Open Organisations Profile displayed high internal consistency ranging from r = .80 to r = .95. Furthermore confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the theoretical three factor model of unity, internal responsiveness and external responsiveness.The second study assessed cultural differences and similarities between Australia and American using the profile. The findings suggested that significant differences existed between the countries and also between male and female values across the nine dimensions measured.The final study examined the relationships between the three higher order factors of openness and customer satisfaction and sales performance. The study found that the three factors of openness had a mediating effect on customer satisfaction and sales performance. The three studies showed the Open Organisation Profile offers researchers a reasonably reliable and valid instrument for assessing the openness of an organisation and its ability to adapt to internal and external changes in the organisation’s environment. Furthermore, the Open Organisations Profile could be used as guide to the areas that need to be addressed to help the organisation improve service delivery, customer satisfaction and financial return.

The current study analyzes the official policies and everyday practices of the youth non-governmental organization System and G, located in Komotini, Greece. Through a combination of Critical Policy Analysis, Interviews and Participatory Observation, this Thesis provides a broad image of the organization’s internal culture, with great emphasis on the relations among its members. The results showed that the organization’s philosophy, causes and corresponding policies have emerged from its founders’ personal life experiences, which motivated them for social offer to people with fewer opportunities, developed through cooperation with other youth workers, equally motivated to help people in need, and changed with the contribution of volunteers – also people with fewer opportunities – with innovative ideas and ambition to bring social change. As a result, an intersectional culture has grown in the organization, which is characterized by diversity, emotional proximity, mutual support and solidarity.             The study also analyzes the organization’s social stratification and power relations, which are characterized by equality among all its members, making trainers and volunteers feel that their voice is heard and appreciated. Therefore, the organization succeeds in the achievement of all forms of organizational justice (procedural, distributive, interactional). What is more, important decision-making within the organization requires the equal participation of trainers and volunteers alike, while when it comes to decisions with an impact on local society, the organization gives its members the opportunity to express their opinion and design social policies through cooperation with local entrepreneurs, politicians and other decision-makers. In this way, organizational and social change are achieved and promoted. The future of the organization includes its members’ ambition to spread the methods and results of non-formal education to other regions and countries, and I consider myself lucky and honored to be part of this effort.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Washington State University, December 2008.
Title from PDF title page (viewed on Dec. 31, 2008). "The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication." Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-164).

This chapter deals with the part of the library and information science (LIS) curriculum involving knowledge organizational systems and processes, which is an important core of the LIS discipline; arguably - together with information seeking & retrieval (IS&R) - the central core. Knowledge Organization (KO) contributes to make documents accessible for users whether they browse or search. KO is about providing optimal conditions for the identification and retrieval of documents or parts of documents. The suggestions made in this chapter are based on an analysis of the scientific knowledge about KO as developed until now.

Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) is considered behavior that benefits others, but is not a part of the employee’s job description. Research has indicated that OCB can be divided into two categories, behavior that is directed towards other individuals (OCBI) and behavior that is directed towards the organization (OCBO). Research has also suggested that there are three different motives behind OCB, impression management, prosocial values, and organizational concern. This study examines the relationship between the motives and the type of OCB that is performed. The results failed to indicate that motives matter in determining which type of OCB is performed. Additionally, participants in all three motives were more likely to engage in OCBO behavior than in OCBI behavior.

Purpose : The purpose of this article is to describe how do employees of multinational textile industry organizations implement the sustainability of an organization in accordance with the sustainability vision of the organization itself. Theoretical Framework : The theoretical framework will be based on sustainability development which will be used to give an understanding of the implementation of sustainability in an organization by the employees following the vision of the organization and which will function as a framework to then be able to analyze the data empirical evidence from this study. First, sustainability development will be presented as a general framework for analyzing sustainability and its various factors. Subsequently, more specific literature on the various sustainable practices of the textile industry will be presented. Finally, the obstacles to sustainable development in the textile industry will be highlighted with green washing, which is a scourge today, consumer attitudes and the challenges of implementing sustainability. The sustainability is necessary and primoridal these days, it is important to understand why, how to meet this growing demand while overcoming the obstacles previously identified to combine performance and sustainability development in the implementation of actions on the part of employees in the textile industry. Methodology : The data analyzed and discussed in this study consists of primary data in a qualitative research collected during online focus groups and secondary data through annual report, academic papers, and books. Findings : Although employees are trying through many very promising actions that allow H&M to move closer day after day to its own goals of becoming 100% climate positive is 100% fair and equal, 100% leading change and 100 % circular and renewable, it is however impossible for the organization to be from all points of view and within its entire supply chain to be 100% sustainable.

The purpose of this study was to explore organizational forgetting processes in an organization after acquisition. The different causes of forgetting, the organizational considerations that prevent knowledge from being stored, and why some new knowledge is integrated while some is not still remain uncharted. Understanding the phenomenon of forgetting in the context of acquisitions is also important, since acquisitions continue to be a popular growth strategy despite their high rate of failure. Specifically, between 2004 and 2015, the value of acquisitions globally grew from $1.9 trillion to almost $5 trillion, yet 50% to 80% of all acquisitions fail and performance after acquisition is varied at best.

A qualitative single site case study was conducted of an acquired organization’s human resources (HR) department in the pharmaceutical industry. One or two semistructured interviews were conducted with seven HR department staff, including the vice president of HR, HR managers involved in or overseeing HR routines, and other HR administrative staff. In addition, archival sources relating to a change in a routine or process were reviewed. Data were entered into Atlas.ti and coded. The focus was on organizational routines as a type of organizational knowledge. The variation, selection, and retention of new practices and patterns of actions within routines occurring on a daily basis within organizations allow for a wide range of outcomes and the impact of the process of organizational forgetting.

Four primary findings emerged from this study: social and personal power influenced organizational forgetting; employees from the acquired organization were required to unlearn aspects of their pre-acquisition performance management and evaluation routines; the frequency of routines impacted organizational forgetting; and enterprise-wide technology changes, such as implementation of a new software program, were key in unlearning.

Theoretical contributions to the organizational forgetting literature included clarification and greater articulation of the four modes of forgetting and the relationship between the modes. Conclusions and implications for practice are discussed, including ideas on how to manage the organizational forgetting processes to potentially increase the success of an acquisition.

This project addresses communication issues within a youth development organization, Northern California DeMolay, which endures an annual change in youth leadership. This paper relies on the foundation of research within the field of youth development organizations and incorporates public relations strategies to provide specialized help for the organization. The outcome of this project is a communication plan for Northern California DeMolay developed through research, strategies, and the strategic plan for the organization. The balance of power between youth and adult leadership highlighted in youth development organization research is manifested in the communication plan through the division of responsibility between youth and adult leadership

Thesis (M.S. in Systems Technology)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2003.
Thesis advisor(s): Carl R. Jones, William G. Kemple. Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-97). Also available online.

More than 4.9 million businesses exist in the United States, and leaders within these businesses have to acclimate to change. Clear and effective communication is vital to the success of an organization. According to scholars and health care leaders focusing on strategies to communicate change during organizational change is a critical aspect of sustainability and profitability. The conceptual framework of this study was communication theory. The purpose of this single case study was to explore successful strategies that some health care leaders used to communicate during organizational change in a health care organization in El Paso, Texas. The data collection process consisted of collecting data from semistructured interviews and organizational documents, and the analysis process included grouping key words and reconstructing data into themes. The 4 key themes that emerged from this process included building trust through organizational communication is critical during change, the use of technologies, as a tool for communication is key during change, 2-way communication needs to occur during organizational change, and communication about change is vital through comprehensive organizational meetings. Health care leaders provided insights on management and communication strategies and responsibilities leaders and employees go through during organizational change. The implications for positive social change include strategies to improve communication that could help health care leaders with their employees and their patients during organizational change, which could increase the profitability of the organization and potentially generate a more thriving and healthy community.

The study reported herein addresses the research question, "To what extent do excellent performing UK construction contracting organizations demonstrate and employ recognized Learning Organization processes?" It utilized a case-study based approach as that approach was seen as being most useful for exploring the processes that may or may not have been clearly defined by each participating organization. The study sought to move beyond the theories of knowledge created by the accepted seminal works on The Learning Organization model and the largely positivist works on construction contractor performance, which have focussed on ‘output’ measures only. The literature reviewed indicated minimal understanding of excellent contractor performance from the perspective of the customer within the construction industry and even less understanding of the practical application of Learning Organization processes within the industry. It suggested the need for research to address the issue by examining how construction customers viewed excellent contractor performance and what processes excellent performing contractors actually employed. The assumption behind this research is that the organization adapts and responds to its environment and takes action to survive and flourish dependent upon its understating of that environment. This is the same behaviour as a living organism in nature displays, and thus requires the researcher to view the organization as a sentient being. Such a view underscores the epistemological perspective, that is the assumption of what knowledge is and how it may be discovered, adopted in this thesis. The research herein reported therefore follows a post-positivist standpoint. The methodological position for the research sits within a functionalist paradigm, a paradigm that enables consideration of the participating organizations within the construction industry to be viewed as a ‘whole’ and as having interrelated parts. This position was considered to be the most useful for the research. The particular approach chosen was that of multiple case studies carried out on the same subject. Carrying out multiple case studies across different organizations provided case-based themes, which was seen to give the research a greater credibility. By definition, the method was therefore one of a collective case study (Creswell, 2007), where several cases were brought to bear on a single issue. It was intended to draw practical examples of Learning Organizations together so that the commonalities and differences between and among them could be integrated in a reformulated Learning Organization model for the construction industry. During the data collection phase, two elements of the research were abandoned as unnecessary and impractical respectively. The unnecessary element was the questionnaire element of the contractor case studies, which was abandoned due to the breadth and depth of data gathered through the other elements of the research (interviews, focus groups and field observation). The impractical element was the intended comparative study on poor performing contractors. This was abandoned as customers almost without fail noted that poor performing contractors were generally not retained on their programmes and therefore their supply chains tended only to range in performance from adequate to excellent. Secondly, it was realized following discussions with customers that poor performers were likely to be aware of their poor performing status and therefore be unlikely to want to participate in the research. The customer organizations identified a number of clear areas where they identified excellent contractor performance. The clear position was that the standard output performance indicators of project completion to time, cost, quality, and health and safety were no longer indicators of excellent performance in the industry. These indicators were now the minimum performance required to satisfy the customer and there was seen to be a further suite of more behavioural measures which were the indicators of excellent performance. These findings were drawn together in a single model for procurement and performance management. The contracting organizations nominated as excellent performers fell largely into the ‘medium sized’ bracket of the construction industry. Indeed, some of the participating customers noted that the larger contractors were actually poorer performers at behavioural aspects of service delivery. The nominated contractors’ processes were examined against the Learning Organization framework provided in Senge et al (1990, 1994) to establish the extent to which recognized Learning Organization processes were being employed. It was noted in the conclusions that whilst all of the organizations employed some Learning Organization processes, none could be said to be a model Learning Organization possessing all of the processes which Senge et al (1990, 1994) suggested. The fact that each organization possessed some Learning Organization processes was accepted against the critique of Ortenblad (2007) that Senge et al’s (1990, 1994) model is all-encompassing in terms of accepting processes into the Learning Organization model. Implications for industry practice were identified based upon the backdrop of procurement and performance management. It was argued that, based on what is noted as really important to construction customer organizations, the procurement and performance management functions should be better aligned to identify Learning Organization processes and their manifestation as excellent contractor performance from the perspective of the customer. For contractor organizations, there was identified a need to attend to developing Learning Organization processes. There also appeared to be a need for the customer to support the journey of their contractors towards becoming a Learning Organization. Senge et al’s (1990, 1994) model was then adapted for the construction industry to reflect this need for customer involvement if the contractor was to adopt Learning Organization processes. This adaptation was considered necessary due to the construction industry model of the customer being more involved in the design and construction phases of their product, coupled with the fact that a single construction customer can represent a large volume of their contractors’ turnover (up to 20% is not uncommon). Furthermore, the low contractor profit margins driven by a lowest price tendering culture (often 2-3%) leave little money for internal investment. The support of an informed customer which does not use a lowest price tendering process was therefore deemed necessary. A number of recommendations for further research may be seen to emerge from this study. Questions were raised as to the reason why larger organizations do not appear as able to provide behavioural excellent performance as medium sized contractors which was considered to be an area for further exploration. In addition, the concept of ‘family’ atmosphere (raised several times by participants during the contractor case studies) and its impact upon the ability for the organization to learn and provide excellent performance was seen to be worthy of further study. Finally, there was deemed to be the potential to examine the applicability of the extended Learning Organization model developed herein to other industries and/or organizational cultures.

Women's empowerment is an important aim of the development activities of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in Bangladesh. In a patriarchal society, women experience discrimination and their participation in decision making processes often is not allowed in domestic, political and economic affairs. Most women's organizations mainly work to create a better, non-discriminatory, and equal society for women. To focus on this goal, these organizations often are not conscious of democracy at their own workplaces and equal participation of their members and employees in decision making. In addition, only a small amount of scholarship has been concerned with the structures and governance, organizational democracy, and women's participatory roles in organizational decision making. By using a multiple case study design, this research explores the ways four advocacy women's NGOs in Bangladesh promote women's empowerment and equality at the organizational level and how organizational structures and internal decision making processes help NGOs to achieve these goals. None of the organizations has pure democratic or bureaucratic structure and participatory decision making process. More democratic organizational structures or participatory decision making processes are more effective in promoting more cognitive and psychological empowerment of its members and employees.
Ph. D.

This dissertation seeks to understand how formative experiences during organizational socialization exert a longstanding influence on individuals’ performance. Although there is evidence that conditions experienced early in a career or in the initial period of organizational tenure can leave a lasting imprint on individuals’ work-related cognition and behavior, little is known about the performance implications that result from such imprints. Moreover, despite increasing interest in imprinting processes at the individual level, much research in this area has been narrow in scope, focusing mostly on the imprinted influence of early mentors and coworkers, and giving little attention to other factors that contribute to the formation of imprints. To address these gaps, I develop theory about the lasting performance implications of two key features of the context in which socialization takes place: (1) the intra-organizational resource environment upon a newcomer’s entry; and (2) the initial structural position that a newcomer occupies within the network of work relationships in the organization. My core proposition is that imprints created by these conditions enhance or hinder subsequent performance depending on the extent of fit between the imprint and current conditions. This proposition has novel implications for the determinants of individual attainment in organizations; for the paradoxical relationship between initial resource conditions and subsequent performance; and for the nature of network structures that produce individual advantage. Unique longitudinal data and qualitative interviews in two professional service firms provide evidence for this framework.

A nation-wide study of the leadership requirements for combined emergency management and fire departments from medium-sized municipalities was conducted. It has been widely recognized by the emergency management community and the federal government that emergency management should be professionalized. The first step in professionalization is standardization. The study disclosed that there was an extremely high variability in the training, education and experience requirements for each of the leadership ranks. Not only was there high variability in the requirements for holding each of the ranks, the ranks themselves varied greatly from department to department. The single rank present in all departments was that of chief, and even for that rank, 30% were appointees with no concrete position requirements. Furthermore, the actual requirements for each of the leadership ranks was compared to recommendations from three professional organizations, the International Association of Emergency Managers, the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Fire Protection Association. Not only did the actual requirements for each rank vary greatly from the recommendations from each organization, the recommendations between the organizations varied greatly. It is quite clear that even the professional organizations have not come to a consensus of opinion or agreement on requirements, nor are they even close to doing so. Two departmental models were also examined, and once again there was a high variability of requirements for each leadership rank. Although standardization is the first step in professionalization, there has been little movement in that direction. Emergency management has a long way to go if it is to be professionalized, and the safety of the public and nation stand in the balance.

Within today's technologically enmeshed world, people are spending more and more time in front of screens (both large and small). This comes at a cost; time spent outdoors is becoming scarce. How does engaging with nature impact our practice of leadership? A Collaborative Inquiry carried out by four individuals with personal leadership practices explored this question. We found that our leadership practices were improved through spending time in nature. A significant impact we identified was that our experiences in nature had an ego-reductive influence, turning our focus outwards and improving our ability to navigate complex situations with greater fluidity. We recommend that leaders looking to alter their perspective adopt a practice of intentional reflective time in nature.

Change and stability are critical to the sustained competitive advantage of organizations. Emerging research shows the relationship that exists between human agency and institutions, but also the inter-relationship to the dynamic of change and stability. This study examines the concepts of stability and change in regard to organizational change and institutional theory, and the influence of macro- and meso-structuring mechanisms in processes of institutional reproduction and change. Specific reference is made to institutional orientations toward stability and change as primary dimensions in the analysis of micro-level explanations that contribute to understanding adoption of new organizational practices.

This participative mixed-methods study was conducted in 12 community rehabilitation programs within New York State. It showed how both agency and institutional orientations toward stability and change are influenced through structuring mechanisms, and can be identified and discerned through patterns. The depiction of these orientations were identified by conceptual mapping and pattern matching, a research method emerging in both the change and institutional theory research. The new understandings gained regarding these agency and institutional orientations will contribute to new insights as to how micro-level actions occur and contribute to macro-institutional orientations toward stability and change. This study also supports the conclusion that macro- and meso-structuring mechanisms can become strange attractors which limit organizational potential for change, and that gaining an understanding of these attractor cages can assist organizations in mapping alternative futures.

Organizational agility represents a new field of organizational study that is not well examined. In the past organizations had an unmatched competitive advantage due to low competition and higher barriers to entry into their markets. As a result, many organizations dominated their industries. However, in the era of globalization, individuals with an internet connection and the right skills can start new organizations that can compete on a global level. Consequently, organizations now are facing more competition that they experienced in the past. Another reason for increase competition is new technology. Technology is improving increasingly faster than any time in history. Therefore, organizations that are not agile could not survive in the current environment.

Agile entities realize that they have to become flexible and nimble to withstand competition. Accordingly, the researcher in this study proposes an organizational agility model and this proposed model is the focus of the study. The proposed model significant arises from the fact that currently there are limited numbers of models that help organizations in becoming agile entities. The characteristics in this study were based on Worley and Lawler (2010) “Agility and Organization Design: A Diagnostic Framework”. The study conducted a survey utilizing an instrument developed by Dr. Worley and Dr. Lawler that contains 15 agility characteristics. The survey uses all 15 characteristics to determine if the organization is agile. In addition, the study utilizes three of the 15 agility characteristics to determent if a relationship occurs between the study variables.

This quantitative study examined the relationship between change capability, learning capability, shared leadership and organizational agility. Moreover, understanding these relationships could assist scholars and practitioners in producing change programs that emphasize certain behaviors that make an organization agile. The study surveyed 116 participants and found that focusing on change capability, learning capability and shared leadership could contribute in creating agile organizations. Consequently, after evaluating the study results, a new agility model emerged. This model shows that organizations can achieve agility by developing change capability, learning capability, shared leadership, shared purpose and flexible resources. Ultimately, achieving agility could help organizations compete and endure now and the future.

碩士
國立成功大學
企業管理學系碩博士班
91
This study discusses the effects of the organizational boundary, organizational capability and organizational culture on employee satisfaction and then the influence of employee satisfaction on organization performance. In addition, this study will explore if the organizational boundary, organizational capability and organizational culture would directly influence the performance of organization. This study adopted three methods including an interview, questionnaires and secondary data to make the triangulation and comparison by SPSS. The interveiew was based on the results of quantitative questionnaires in order to cover the insufficient of single research method. The results of this study indicated that: 1. The organizational boundary and organizational capability are positively and significantly related to the employee satisfaction. 2. The organizational boundary and organizational capability are positively and significantly related to the organization performance. 3. The organizational culture is not significant related to the employee satisfaction. 4. The organizational culture is not significant related to the organization performance. 5. The employee satisfaction is positively and siginificantly related to organization performace. 6. The characteristices of employees inclue the educational background, seniority and department are siginificantly different on employee satisfaction. Based on the results of this study, the organizational boundary and capability could influence the employee satisfaction and organization performance. Therefore, organization should improve its structure and communication method. It could be worked by four dimensions include vertical, horizontal, external and regional boundary. In addition, organization should increase their capability. It also could work from speed, elasticity, coordination and innovation. The relationship between employee satisfactioin and organization is siginificant. Thus, if company want to improve the performance of organization, company should try to promote the belief of learning and increase employee satisfaction. By this way, the learning capability of organization could increase and then the company could become a real organization.

碩士
佛光大學
公共事務學系
96
“Organization” has been playing an important role in human society development. Many researchers define “organization” as “ coordinative and cooperative action of human beings to exceed human physical strength and wisdom to achieve a common goal”. This definition clearly indicates organization's overview and operation, but could not answer questions for some organization, such as alumni association and family association, which are composed of relatives or fellows. They do not have well structured system and they are not established to exceed physical strength and wisdom. Not all of their activities work out in coordinative and cooperative ways and common goal is a distant achievement to them. Therefore, “organization” should be discussed and described with wide vision, not from one aspect or with narrow definition. In terms of “public”, organization is divided into “public organization” and “non-public organization”. “Public organization” can be simply described as government administration organization, which is established to achieve particular public mission. “Veterans Affairs Commission” (VAC) is a special affiliated organization of Executive Yuan, which is assigned with responsibilities covering not only veteran general service, medical care, employment assistance but also construction projects, forest conservation and non-official diplomatic assistance. Therefore, the research of VAC organization change and development is particularly important. Based on “resource dependence” theory, this paper will study VAC organization's historical change and development, look into the problems organization environment facing, search key change strategy with development, and discuss the relationship between organization change and organization environment.

碩士
國立中央大學
人力資源管理研究所
90
ABSTRACT Developing learning organizations has become an imperative task for many managers, since an organization learning capability may be one of the major sources of sustainable competitive advantage of the firm. Thus, this study explores the relationship between three dimensions of a learning organization and the organizational culture. In addition, it also discusses the person- organization fit between individual expectation and practical organizational culture on the three of indicators of learning organizations. Organizational culture is operationalized as several dimensions, which include customer orientation, the basis of truth, rationality, nature of time, innovation and risk taking, participate in management and oriented to work or coworkers. The three indicators for a learning organization, which are developed by Watkins & Marsick , are individual learning, group learning and organizational learning. The structured equation model, LISREL, and hierarchical regression models are employed in this study to examine the proposed hypotheses. Our results show that five out of six culture factors, except for oriented to work, have strong effects on supporting a learning organization. The empirical results also demonstrate that the higher person - organizational culture fit, the more the organization is a learning organization.

碩士
義守大學
醫務管理學系碩士班
99
Facing changing medical strategies and highly competitive environment, medical institutions can operate continuously only by improving the operation efficiency, enhancing the quality of medical service, and building its competitive advantages; besides those, building its sound organization structure, creating good organizational learning environment, managing human capital, and eventually, achieving high performance through continuous innovation are also the key for medical institutions to survive in this vibrant environment. This research attempts to verify the relationship and influence of perceived learning organization on perceived organizational innovation and organizational performance. I am targeting for about 500 hospitals which had registered to the Department of Health and still operate in 2010 as this research objects. The surveyed objects are the human resource managers. 502 questionnaires are distributed, and 204 copies retrieved. After classification, 204 questionnaires are effective with the retrieval rate of 40.63%. All of effective questionnaires are further analyzed with SPSS17.0. The findings of questionnaires show that cognitive learning organization and cognitive organizational innovation contribute positively to organizational performance, and the learning organization affects innovation. Another finding of this research is that size of the health care industry turbulence moderate these relations.

碩士
國立雲林科技大學
工業工程與管理研究所碩士班
91
Abstract The existing national research on Learning Organization is based on the conceptual research. Most of the content is to focus on case study and to develop the character of learning organization; the focus on “how medical organization builds research on learning organization” is less. Therefore, this investigation concentrates on the actual force of learning organization research of the hospital. The point is to understand the process of actual force on the learning organization of medical organization. The purpose of this research is to: 1.Understand the condition of local medical organization’s learning organization. 2.Combine developments and discoveries from archives and discoveries; further more, to provide conclusion and advise as a reference for medical organization’s impellent in learning organization in the future. 3.Analysis concrete strategy of medical organization’s impellent in learning organization. 4.Discuss the local induct pattern of medical organization’s impellent in learning organization. According to the research purpose described above, this research is to observe and research intensively in case-study hospitals. Moreover, to discuss the induct research of medical organization learning organization structure by collecting archives related to learning organization. This research is quality based. Individual information was collected by observations and interviews. Analyses of collected information were completed by quantitative research method. Medical organization based learning organization is expected in the soon future. The result of this research discovers, two individual hospitals adopt different lead-in mode; A hospital adopts to the lead-in mode of “advance project”, mean while, B hospital adopts to the lead-in mode of “education training project” and produces a better end result. Aiming at the business enterprise construction on learning-style organization, the key of the organization influences both sides of the organization and the process of the promotions. All these facts prove that A hospital has a better outcome in constructing the lear5ning organization compares to B hospital. This research went through the analysis of these two individual hospitals and has proposed an advisement; it is expected to be a consultation for further research in the future. Keyword: learning-style organization, lead-in mode.

碩士
中原大學
企業管理研究所
91
The objective of this study is to converse the relationships among organizational reputation, organizational identification and organizational commitment of volunteers in nonprofit organization. Through reviewing related references, we came up with four hypotheses: The relationship between organizational reputation and organizational identification. �郼he relationship between organizational identification and organizational commitment. �郼he relationship between organizational reputation and organizational commitment. �郼he interaction between organizational reputation and volunteer’s individual characteristics on organizational identification. In the course of the statistical analysis from the survey’s empirical facts, we concluded few major consequences as follow: 1.Throughout the analysis, we revised organization reputation into four aspects, which are public obligation, professional service, managerial innovation and attracting ability. 2.There are significant correlations between organizational reputation and organizational identification. When organizational reputation increased, organizational identification followed. 3.There are significant correlations between organizational identification and organizational commitment. When organizational identification increased, organizational commitment followed. 4.There are significant correlations between organizational reputation and organizational commitment. When organizational reputation increased, organizational commitment followed. 5.There are partially significant correlations between the interaction of organizational reputation and volunteer’s individual characteristics on organizational identification, including one’s age, education, and previous experience in nonprofit organization. 6.There are partially significant correlations between the interaction of organizational reputation and volunteer’s individual characteristics on organizational identification, including one’s education, matrimony and previous experience in nonprofit organization.

碩士
長榮大學
醫務管理學系碩士班
107
Taiwan implemented the National Health Insurance in 1994. Due to the development of information industry, medical knowledge, self-awareness growth, and the market of medical care institutions is very competitive recently. In the environment, how to through effective arrangements and cooperation, the strategy to adjusting organizational structure to enhance enterprise competitiveness are important. Hope to realize the impact of the effect of organizational structure on organization communication and organization learning of Medical institutions. Based on the result, we can improve organization communication and organization learning and enhancement on employee innovative behavior. In this research our research subjects are employees in Taiwan, who is older than 20 years old with the capacity for civil acts and have worked for at least half a year at primary physical clinics by researcher in person to collect data. Moreover, in order to avoid disturbing the organization and depressing the interference of environment, study participants were asked to complete a questionnaire outside of work hours. We used survey research with snowball sampling to select different levels of hospitals in the region. The sampled included four areas included northern、middle、southern、eastern part in Taiwan. All of them 381 questionnaires were distributed, 362 (95%) completed and returned. The available returned questionnaires were applied by SPSS 21 and AMOS 21 statistical analysis software to analyze factor analysis and reliability analysis to make sure the quality of questionnaires, and used regression analysis to prove the hypothesis. There are threer important findings in this research: (1) Organizational structure positively affects organizational learning, and Organizational structure formalization positively affects organizational communication. (2) Organizational communication and learning has a positive effect on innovation. (3) Organizational structure formalization by organizational learning and communication has mediation effect for performance as well.

碩士
銘傳大學
管理學院高階經理碩士學程
106
The key to innovative process on the national level is usually characterized by research organization, which plays a crucial role determinant of technology development and industry policy. The most developed countries organized the corresponding actors consisting of enterprises, universities, and government research institutes for achieving a complex missing. Braving the developmental variants, the planed organizational changes are the needed survivability for becoming mature. In this study, the combination of Kotter 8-step process of leading change on Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has been investigated. The management meaning of inner- and outer- factors, challenge analysis, corresponding solving strategy, specific practice for promoting organizational change, and finding the successful key point of ITRI changing model are issued. The wild-used in-depth interview of qualitative research was conducted to collect and analyze how ITRI represents the task problems and how seek information to solve them. The results showed that the change process on ITRI are identical to Kotter 8-step process of leading change. The first four steps are used to loosening traditional hierarchical ways of operating, the 5th to 7th steps are introducing new practices, and the last one is deeply transforming into corporate culture.

碩士
國立中山大學
人力資源管理研究所
100
This research purpose organizes the fair influence to organizing of the political consciousness in order to probe into, and then deepening test can organize political consciousness because working anxiety and intermediary result to organize cynicism influence the justice of organizing. So, this research is with Ferris et al. (2002) Revise models as basis in political consciousness of organizations put forward. Probe into it after the member realizes the existence which organizes politics, the phenomenon that they will produce '' work anxious ''. After using structural equation modeling（SEM） to analyze the research data in 2008, provided by Political Perception Research Team, which is led by Prof. Chin-Ming Ho, the new findings include: 1. organize the fair influence for organizing of the political consciousness, construct the surface and appear and shoulder in the '' general political consciousness '' apparently relevantly; On '' keep silent, wait for advantage quietly '' construct surface appear apparent to shoulder relevantly; Appear and shoulder in '' the policy and practice disparity '' apparently relevantly. 2. organize the political consciousness to be anxious and apparent to influence to the work. 3 .organize the political consciousness for organizing the cynicism to be apparent to influence. 4. it is anxious to work and is defeated by fairly influence in organizing. 5. organize the cynicism to defeat by fairly influence in organizing. 6. it is anxious with organizing the cynicism in order to organize the political consciousness and intermediary which the organization promise to change one to work.