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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Business Administration, Management|Mass Communications|Information Science'
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1
Alao, 'Remi Kehinde Reuben. "Use of direct mail for improved electoral education that encourages civic behavior and election credibility." Thesis, University of Phoenix, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3569144.
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<p> In this quantitative quasi-experimental study, correlation and regression analyses were used to test two research hypotheses. The experiment was to examine if a relationship existed between the mode of electoral information dissemination from the election organizing body (EMB) and voters’ behavior and attitudes associated with an electoral process. A Baptist church located in Otta, Nigeria gave permission to conduct the experiment within its premises, and 285 church members took part as participants in the study. Three main elements each of modern and traditional electoral information and communication channels including short message service (SMS), e-mail, surface post, newspaper, posters, and radio/television (TV) were tested to determine the validity of the research assumptions. Results of the study indicated voters’ preference for receiving direct electoral information from the organizer, preferably using mobile direct communication channels. There was an indication of knowledge and attitude changes because the electoral management body disseminated the electoral information directly to voters via direct mail. Knowledge and attitude changes could have implications for subsequent elections and other electoral management decisions. The implication of this study was that proper information system management could be a key remedy for unethical behavior during the electoral process. The suggestion following the result of the study was that if a sustainable, systematic planning and execution of electoral information and communication management is adopted, it could likely lead to improved voter knowledge and informed decision-making ability. It also has the prospect of reducing unethical stakeholder behavior during elections, and election of qualified candidates based on merit would be possible as may be demonstrated through informed participation by the electorates.</p>
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Shin, Bongsik 1960. "The implication of information technology in telework: Adoption model and influencing factors of communication media choice among teleworkers." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/288732.
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As the post-industrial environment requires more flexibility in organizational operations, telework is gradually gaining an acceptance as a distributed organizational design. Academic research, however, has not been effective in providing rich theoretical and empirical support for the planning and implementation of telework at organizations. This dissertation is motivated to contribute telework research through the investigation of implications that general-purpose communication media have on distributive telework. First, an empirical study is performed to understand the role of individual-, contextual-, and social-level factors on the media choice behaviors of remotely scattered teleworkers. Then, examination is made on how the media choice and other individual and social factors affect the perception on information-carrying capability and productivity of a communication medium, email. For this investigation, a hypothetical model that depicts the relationship among the constructs is proposed and relevant hypotheses are developed. Prior to the empirical study, existing literatures of telework are reviewed and characterized for the conceptual analysis of the problems and issues in telework. It was recognized that the narrow focus of research on teleworkers and the lack of a theoretical foundation are impeding broad understanding of telework. Data analysis indicates that teleworkers' media choice is the result of dynamics of individual-, contextual-, and social-level variables. Management support as a social influence showed the strongest impact on teleworkers' media use. The study confirms that, though regarded as a lean medium, email could become an effective and rich communication tool through an active social structuration process. Teleworkers belonging to an email-oriented communication network not only recognized email as a rich medium, but also had higher perception of work productivity from its use. The study confirms that, when email is recognized as an information-rich, as well as a function-rich, medium by teleworkers, a telework program could be benefited from the reduced loss of internal processes and enhanced work productivity.
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Romano, Nicholas Charles 1963. "A Web-based system for collaboration." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/288860.
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Today's complex environmental and organizational pressures lead to business teams distributed along the dimensions of space, time, and computing resources. Distributed teams often need to collaborate to solve complex problems together. Many information systems support simple information sharing, however group research has shown that productive problem solving extends far beyond this. Group Support Systems (GSS) researchers and product reviewers suggest that simple discussion tools fall short of supporting additional phases of group problem solving. Research into distributed collaboration is needed to understand this complex domain. This dissertation describes an investigation into distributed collaboration to design, develop, implement, evaluate, and iteratively refine a prototype World-Wide-Web (Web) based distributed GSS. The research addresses requirements derivation, architecture design, prototype implementation, evaluation, iterative refinement, and the nature of roles played by participants. The literature review examines the areas of meeting analysis, hypertext, the Web, GSS, distributed GSS, collaborative interface design, group facilitation and systems engineering. The systems development research method is applied according to the following stages: Conceptual Framework Development, Requirements Identification, Systems Architecture Development, Systems Design, Systems Implementation and Systems Evaluation. An evolutionary prototyping approach incorporates evaluator suggestions and evolving technology into the system. Systems requirements are derived from the literature review, interviews with dozens of GSS researchers, practitioners and developers and hundreds of users from around the world. The initial specification employs the data model and interface design of an existing face-to-face GSS. A Distributed GSS architecture, consisting of a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)/JavaScript client interface and a centralized HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP)/Common Graphical Interface (CGI) server, is proposed, designed, and implemented. The logical data model is extended for distributed collaboration through identification of relevant data entities and relationships. The interface is extended through iterative prototyping based on observations, user feedback and technical enhancements. Prototype systems functionality is extended based on lab and field observations and direct feedback from users. Research contributions include a new distributed architecture, knowledge about distributed GSS interfaces, functionality, facilitation, leadership and participation, a prototype for additional research, and knowledge about the processes and group dynamics for distributed teams.
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Haile, Yohannes. "Sustainable Value And Eco-Communal Management: Systemic Measures For The Outcome Of Renewable Energy Businesses In Developing, Emerging, And Developed Economies." Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1459369970.
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Yu, Xing 1974. "Comparing electronic commerce solutions for small businesses." Thesis, McGill University, 2001. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=31562.
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E-commerce is a new way of doing business. It is becoming increasingly important to everybody. The objective of this thesis is to compare various design approaches and to find out the best solution for small businesses. Some commonly used technologies in developing e-commerce systems are introduced in the first three chapters. The topics covered are from Web standards and protocols to Web planning and design, from Web servers to server side programming, and most importantly, Java technology and IBM's WebSphere. Based on these technologies, two solutions are presented: building from scratch with Java servlets and building with IBM's WebSphere. We develop an online store with each of the solutions. The last part of the thesis is a comprehensive comparison. Time, complexity, performance and cost are evaluated in this comparison. A simple conclusion is drawn afterwards with our suggestions to small businesses regarding which solution they should choose.
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Kisonzo, Sylvester Musyoki. "Information & Communications Technologies Investment Decisions and Organizational Performance in Major Nonprofits in Kenya." ScholarWorks, 2017. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/4302.
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The levels of organizational performance (OP) achievable from a dollar investment in information and communications technologies (ICT) remains elusive. A consensus exits among scholars and organizational leaders that effective use of ICT improves OP yet managers continue to struggle to justify investments in ICT. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore and explain how investments in ICT related with OP. The study built on the resource-based view of the firm theoretical framework. A key question in the study was whether there existed a consistent, positive correlation between ICT investments, decision-making performance, and OP, and if so, explain the interdependence among the predictor and outcome variables. The sampling frame for the research was the major nonprofit organizations in Kenya. Data were collected using a tested and validated measurement instrument, and analyzed using SPSS software. Correlation, analysis of variance, and multiple regression analyses were used for data analysis and interpretation. Results revealed that not all investments in ICT correlate positively with OP. In fact, investments in some ICT systems did not correlate at all with OP. This study has implications for positive social change, it facilitates informed decision making that saves resources and thus improves social good. The study is expected to contribute to the body of knowledge on the effect of investments in ICT on the effectiveness of decision making and OP.
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Pourshahid, Alireza. "A URN-based methodology for business process monitoring." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/27605.
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Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) are attracting much attention these days as core tools for process management. A BPMS consists of several modules including Business Activity Monitoring (BAM), which evaluates the performance of processes. Although measuring the performance of business processes is based on organizational goals and the impact of processes on such goals is an important aspect of the process evaluation, most of the existing BPMS do not offer appropriate capabilities.
Several process improvements and quality methodologies have also been around for some time. Most of them, however, are based on statistical and management tools that are not integrated with current technologies including BPMS. In other words, the management and quality disciplines have not yet evolved to take full advantage of current technologies that can enhance process improvement efforts. One of the pitfalls here is the failure to use the information generated by different information systems dispersed across the organization to evaluate the impact of processes on their goals.
In this thesis, we use the User Requirements Notation (URN) in a methodology for evaluating business processes against organizational goals. Although URN enables the modeling of processes and goals, its process monitoring capabilities need enhancements and we will address this issue by extending URN. In addition, we propose a methodology that exploits the new capabilities of URN for process analysis and improvement. Unlike other quality methodologies, the methodology and supporting tool proposed are capable of using different sources of information to measure the performance of modeled processes and evaluate their impact on the goal models. The new capabilities and their benefits are illustrated through examples from the healthcare domain.
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Lowry, Paul Benjamin. "Improving distributed collaborative writing over the Internet using enhanced processes, proximity choices and a Java-based collaborative writing tool." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/279947.
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This research focuses on improving distributed, collaborative writing (CW) over the Internet through new CW technologies, process improvements, proximity choices, and synchronicity choices. The research methodology that is followed iteratively builds theory using design and development of CW tools, surveys, requirements analysis, laboratory and field experiments. The primary empirical work consists of two laboratory experiments and two fields experiments. The two laboratory experiments compare a newly built CW tool, Collaboratus to Microsoft Word(TM). The first experiment found 3-member CW groups using Collaboratus produce higher document lengths with higher quality, but less satisfaction than similar Word(TM) groups. The second experiment found 3-member distributed, synchronous CW groups using Collaboratus with NetMeeting(TM), working over 5 weeks, produce higher document lengths and quality, and have more effective coordination, communication, and socialization than similar Word(TM) groups. The two field experiments further validate that certain processes should be followed for most effective use of Collaboratus. The first experiment compares 3-member groups working in mixed work modes (part F2F part distributed, asynchronous) to similar groups conducting all work asynchronously. The only differences is that all-asynchronous groups spend less time brainstorming and more time converging on brainstormed output. The lack of process gains for the mixed-mode groups can be attributed to the difficulty of scheduling F2F meetings---an insight gained by performing this research in a field setting. The second experiment compares non-facilitated, 3-member groups using three different levels of scripted process structure to guide their distributed, asynchronous CW. Highest structure groups have the highest levels of performance (in terms of quality, productivity, satisfaction, communication, and relationships), while lowest structure groups have the lowest levels of performance. It is believed the process differences can be directly attributed to the nature of the academic writing task and the fact the groups were nearly formed, non-cohesive groups. These findings point to the importance of properly matching technology, task, tool, proximity, synchronicity, and people choices in distributed CW to maximize the outcomes. This also provides a useful foundation for agent-based CW processes to support self-sustaining, distributed CW teams who work without professional facilitation.
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Glynn, Melissa Sue 1969. "Successful behaviors in information systems development teams." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/282674.
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This dissertation research examines the impact of leadership, cohesion, and information sharing, and the application of group support systems on information design systems (ISD) project quality and project team satisfaction. Research has identified that after 40 years of developing information systems, there are still widespread difficulties in delivering systems on time and on budget. The research objective of this study is to examine the group level processes to understand how ISD team behavior can impact quality issues. A group support system was introduced to act as a sensemaking treatment to increase team performance. The following research questions were identified: (1) What is the impact of cohesion on project quality? (2) What is the impact of leadership on project quality? (3) What is the impact of information sharing on project quality? (4) What is the impact of cohesion on team satisfaction? (5) What is the impact of leadership on team satisfaction? (6) What is the impact of information sharing on team satisfaction? (7) Is there a relationship between group support systems use and project quality? (8) Can group support systems enable sensemaking activities? A longitudinal experiment was conducted with subjects who were enrolled in four sections of an upper-division Management Information Systems course in Systems Analysis and Design in consecutive semesters. Lectures and class-activities were identical in all four sections except that group support systems technology (GSS) was used by the second-semester classes, the treatment group. Student teams in all sections completed a semester-long ISD project.
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Noaman, Amin Yousef. "Reconciling formal and informal documentation in business modelling." Thesis, McGill University, 1995. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=22783.
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Business modelling, the modelling of architectures and processes of organizations, should have a broad scope. It should not exclusively capture the basic information of the processes, but also address the various kinds of documentation related to the processes under consideration. In this combination, organizational models will be more expressive and useful.<br>The research reported here describes and demonstrates a new approach for reconciling formal and informal documentation in business modelling. It is based on the integration of an underlying formal modelling approach with hypertext concepts that provide mechanisms for capturing, manipulating and viewing informal model documentation.<br>We have developed the Hypertec tool which complements the Macrotec environment. Macrotec is a business modelling environment that is based on the formalism of extended colored Petri nets. Hypertec is a hypertext-based component supporting authoring, display and navigation of all the process documentation that cannot be captured by Macrotec. Our experience with Macrotec/Hypertec shows that their combined functionality substantially facilitates the understanding of business processes and clearly reduces problems such as miscommunication, misinterpretation, and misunderstandings about entire processes or some of their components.
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Lewandowski, Andrew David. "Obama(TM)| Political branding and participation in the 2012 U.S. presidential election." Thesis, Georgetown University, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1536653.
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<p> This study examines the relationship between political branding and political participation in the 2012 U.S. presidential election and argues for a consumer-oriented polity to reinvigorate what it means to participate in elections and democracy in the United States in the 21<sup>st</sup> century. Political branding is positioned at the nexus of political marketing, political consumerism, and political participation. A theoretical framework was developed employing political branding to research its effects on the election. A national survey of 1,398 American adults was conducted to measure political brand recognition, modes of participation, and attitudes toward candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Findings show young people ages 18-34 participated at higher rates across new and social media modes than people age 35 and older. There is a statistically significant relationship of moderate strength between political brand recognition and political participation, suggesting that strong political branding may encourage participation. Findings also show the Obama brand was stronger than the Romney brand, exhibiting greater social, cultural, and emotional connotations reflected in material and immaterial brand markers and built through time that manifest as political brand equity. The study concludes political branding is a democratizing principle, making the political process more accessible and relevant to average citizens, especially young people. </p>
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Chau, Michael C. "Searching and mining the Web for personalized and specialized information." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280260.
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With the rapid growth of the Web, users are often faced with the problem of information overload and find it difficult to search for relevant and useful information on the Web. Besides general-purpose search engines, there exist some alternative approaches that can help users perform searches on the Web more effectively and efficiently. Personalized search agents and specialized search engines are two such approaches. The goal of this dissertation is to study how machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques can be used to improve these approaches. A system development research process was adopted as the methodology in this dissertation. In the first part of the dissertation, five different personalized search agents, namely CI Spider, Meta Spider, Cancer Spider, Nano Spider, and Collaborative Spider, were developed. These spiders combine Web searching with various techniques such as noun phrasing, text clustering, and multi-agent technologies to help satisfy users' information needs in different domains and different contexts. Individual experiments were designed and conducted to evaluate the proposed approach and the experimental results showed that the prototype systems performed better than or comparable to traditional search methods. The second part of the dissertation aims to investigate how artificial intelligence techniques can be used to facilitate the development of specialized search engines. A Hopfield Net spider was proposed to locate from the Web URLs that are relevant to a given domain. A feature-based machine-learning text classifier also was proposed to perform filtering on Web pages. A prototype system was built for each approach. Both systems were evaluated and the results demonstrated that they both outperformed traditional approaches. This dissertation has two main contributions. Firstly, it demonstrated how machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques can be used to improve and enhance the development of personalized search agents and specialized search engines. Secondly, it provided a set of tools that can facilitate users in their Web searching and Web mining activities in various contexts.
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Wei, Chih-Ping 1965. "Schema management for large-scale multidatabase systems." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/290610.
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Advances in networking and database technologies have made the concept of global information sharing possible. A rapidly growing number of applications require access to and manipulation of the data residing in multiple pre-existing database systems, which are usually autonomous and heterogeneous. A promising approach to the problems of interoperating multiple heterogeneous database systems is the construction of multidatabase systems. Among all of the research issues concerning multidatabase systems, schema management which involves with the management of various schemas at different levels in a dynamic environment has been largely overlooked in the previous research. Two most important research in schema management have been identified: schema translation and schema integration. The need for declarative and extensible approach to schema translation and the support for schema integration are accentuated in a large-scale environment. This dissertation presents a construct-equivalence-based methodology based on the implications of semantics characteristics of data models for schema translation and schema integration. The research was undertaken for the purposes of (1) overcoming the methodological inadequacies of existing schema translation approaches and the conventional schema integration process for large-scale MDBSs, (2) providing an integrated methodology for schema translation and schema normalization whose similarities of problem formulation has not been previously recognized, (3) inductively learning model schemas that provide a basis for declaratively specifying construct equivalences for schema translation and schema normalization. The methodology is based on a metamodel (Synthesized Object-Oriented Entity-Relationship (SOOER) model), an inductive metamodeling approach (Abstraction Induction Technique), a declarative construct equivalence representation (Construct Equivalence Assertion Language, CEAL), and its associated transformation and reasoning methods. The results of evaluation studies showed that Abstraction Induction Technique inductively learned satisfactory model schemas. CEAL's expressiveness and adequacy in meeting its design principles, well-defined construct equivalence transformation and reasoning methods, as well as the advantages realized by the construct-equivalence-based schema translation and schema normalization suggested that the construct-equivalence-based methodology be a promising approach for large-scale MDBSs.
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Celaya, Tracy A. "Cloud-Based Computing and human resource management performance| A Delphi study." Thesis, University of Phoenix, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10004286.
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<p> The purpose of this qualitative study with a modified Delphi research design was to understand the reasons human resource (HR) leaders are slow to implement Cloud-based technologies and potentially identify how Cloud-Based Computing influences human resource management (HRM) and HR effectiveness, and potentially the overall performance of the organization. Business executives and HR leaders acknowledge the effect of technology on business processes and strategies, and the leader's influence on technology implementation and adoption. Cloud-Based Computing is fast becoming the standard for conducting HR processes and HR leaders must be prepared to implement the change effectively. Study findings revealed characteristics demonstrated by HR leaders successfully implementing cloud technology, best practices for successful implementation, factors championing and challenging Cloud-Based Computing adoption, and effects on HRM and organizational performance as a result of using Cloud-Based Computing. The outcomes of this study may provide the foundation of a model for implementing Cloud-Based Computing, a leadership model including characteristics of technology early adopters in HR, and identify factors impeding adoption and may assist HR leaders in creating effective change management strategies for adopting and implementing Cloud-Based Computing. Findings and recommendation from this study will enable HR professionals and leaders to make informed decisions on the adoption of Cloud-Based Computing and improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and strategic capability of HR.</p>
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Williams, Henry. "Black Business Owners Overcoming Barriers in Texas." ScholarWorks, 2018. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/5958.
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Black entrepreneurs in the state of Texas reported that they did not achieve the same level of success as nonminority enterprises. Many Black entrepreneurs have obtained education from top tier institutions and have the managerial experiences, skills, and working knowledge that facilitate business success, but they are not able to sustain business growth. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of Black Texan entrepreneurs. This research was established using the conceptual framework of human capital. The overarching research question concerned the lived experiences of Black Texas entrepreneurs who were not as successful in business as their counterparts. Data were collected in the form of semistructured face-to-face interviews with 14 Black participants, using the African American Chamber of Commerce to facilitate networking among Black entrepreneurs. NVivo 11 software was used for data codification and thematic reduction. Emergent themes included (a) feeling good about being in business, (b) resourcefulness in business, (c) network advertising systems, (d) education, (e) having alternative plans if business closes, (f) feeling independent, and (g) activeness in business. The implications for positive social change include the potential for advising researchers on barriers confronted by Black entrepreneurs and potential steps to overcome those barriers. Additionally, scholars have recognized the need for greater understanding of how businesses are structured and managed by Black business-owners because this knowledge is vital to creating business prosperity for Black entrepreneurs who have dreams of becoming business owners.
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Thomas, Maurice A. "Evaluating Electronic Health Records Interoperability Symbiotic Relationship to Information Management Governance Security Risks." Thesis, Northcentral University, 2019. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=13808526.
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<p> A major initiative in the U.S. healthcare care industry is to establish a nationwide health information network securing the sharing of information between all involved U.S. healthcare stakeholders. However, implementing an interoperability solution is a massive, complex, and enduring effort with significant challenges such as inconsistent technology and data standards, as well as complex privacy and security issues. The purpose of this qualitative, case study is to examine the impacts of interoperability initiatives involving the U.S. government and to provide an understanding of the information governance and security risk as standards that are vendor-neutral and trustworthy. This qualitative case study was conducted using federal participants who are health information management (HIM) and health information technology (HIT) professionals working in the Washington DC metropolitan area. The participants' interview data revealed nine major themes; patient identification matching, payment claims and auditing, information sharing, data stewardship, regulatory compliance, technology enhancements, training and certification, standards optimization, and value-based care. The implication of the study's themes showed interoperability is beneficial to the healthcare industry, but there is a greater need for technology and data standardization, information governance, data stewardship, and a greater understanding of federal and state data privacy and security laws. Future recommendation for practices discussed; policy and regulatory adjustments to enhance auditing and compliance, establish a healthcare data ecosystem to improve data and information governance, and technology alternatives such as master data management and white space data. Recommendation for further research included expanding the sample population to compare other federal organizations or the United Kingdom's HIT interoperability project initiative. </p><p>
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Menon, Nirup 1967. "Productivity of information technology in the face of regulation and organizational choices: Evidence from the healthcare industry." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/282546.
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The dissertation is on the impact of information technology (IT) on the economy. Theoretical and empirical analyses are reported in order to explain the productivity "paradox" surrounding IT. The techniques used in the study cover a wide range from simple deterministic production functions to panel data techniques and data envelopment analysis. The empirical study is set in the health care industry. A hospital, which is the the unit of analysis, is an organizational entity that provides an appropriate context for the study of the interactions between information technology, technological advancements, organizational factors and regulation. Overall, it was found that IT contributes in a positive manner to the production of healthcare services. However, measurement problems including "quality" of IT capital due to technological developments can lead to the underestimation of IT productivity. It is also seen that regulation plays a major role in the manner in which costs are allocated to input factors. In particular, the effect of the Prospective Payment System (PPS) legislated in 1983 is investigated. One of the findings of the cost function analysis is that, since PPS, hospitals have been moving toward cost containment. Non-parametric analyses is used to determine the allocative inefficiency in IT with respect to other inputs. The different techniques serve as means to triangulate the measure of IT impact on productivity and efficiency, and in addition, develop the theory underlying production techniques.
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Zhao, Huimin. "Combining schema and instance information for integrating heterogeneous databases: An analytical approach and empirical evaluation." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280014.
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Critical to semantic integration of heterogeneous data sources, determining the semantic correspondences among the data sources is a very complex and resource-consuming task and demands automated support. In this dissertation, we propose a comprehensive approach to detecting both schema-level and instance-level semantic correspondences from heterogeneous data sources. Semantic correspondences on the two levels are identified alternately and incrementally in an iterative procedure. Statistical cluster analysis methods and the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) neural network method are used first to identify similar schema elements (i.e., relations and attributes). Based on the identified schema-level correspondences, classification techniques drawn from statistical pattern recognition, machine learning, and artificial neural networks are then used to identify matching tuples. Multiple classifiers are combined in various ways, such as bagging, boosting, concatenating, and stacking, to improve classification accuracy. Statistical analysis techniques, such as correlation and regression, are then applied to a preliminary integrated data set to evaluate the relationships among schema elements more accurately. Improved schema-level correspondences are fed back into the identification of instance-level correspondences, resulting in a loop in the overall procedure. Empirical evaluation using real-world and simulated data that has been performed is described to demonstrate the utility of the proposed multi-level, multi-technique approach to detecting semantic correspondences from heterogeneous data sources.
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Waldner, Bruce W. "Determining Relationships Between Technology Acceptance and Employee Attitudes Toward Automated Workflows in the Oil Industry." Thesis, Northcentral University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3577845.
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<p> Automated workflows are used to assist petroleum engineers in maximizing the productivity of oil reservoirs. However, for a workflow to be successful, end users must adopt the workflow. The purpose of this quantitative, ex post facto, correlational study was to determine the relationship between acceptance of automated workflow technology and attitudes toward automated workflow adoption. Participants included a cluster sample of 100 randomly selected petroleum engineers from five randomly chosen companies in the oil industry in the Middle East. Predictor variables were measured with a version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) modified to address the issue of workflow adoption. The outcome variable was user attitude to automated workflow adoption, as measured with the Attitude subscale of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) scale. A single multiple linear regression model was computed to answer all research questions. The results for the overall model were significant, adjusted <i>R<sup> 2</sup></i> = .43, <i>F</i>(6, 93) = 13.28, <i>p </i>< .001. After correcting for the number of years of engineering experience of the participants, attitudes toward using automated workflows were predicted by perceived ease of use, β = 0.30, <i>p</i> = .01; perceived usefulness, β = 0.24, <i>p</i> = .03; and computer self-efficacy, β = 0.20,<i>p</i> = .02. The level of automation, β = 0.12,<i> p</i> = .17, and perceived level of support, β = 0.08, <i> p</i> = .32, did not predict attitudes. The number of years of engineering experience was unrelated to attitudes to automated workflow adoption. These findings indicated three factors that have an effect on adoption of automated workflows: perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and the level of computer self-efficacy of the end-user. Areas for future research included confirmation of the reliability of the Level of Automation and the Perceived Level of Support subscales designed for this study. There is also a need for future research regarding how the level of automation and level of support affect the adoption of other technologies.</p>
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Clay, Paul F. "Factors contributing to user choice between codification and personalization-based knowledge management systems a task-technology fit perspective /." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2006. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3219901.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, 2006.<br>Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-06, Section: A, page: 2227. Adviser: Alan R. Dennis. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed June 21, 2007)."
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Ganesan, Shankaranarayanan. "Dynamic schema evolution in a heterogeneous database environment: A graph theoretic approach." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/282767.
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The objective of this dissertation is to create a theoretical framework and mechanisms for automating dynamic schema evolution in a heterogeneous database environment. The structure or schema of databases changes over time. Accommodating changes to the schema without loss of existing data and without significantly affecting the day to day operation of the database is the management of dynamic schema evolution. To address the problem of schema evolution in a heterogeneous database environment, we first propose a comprehensive taxonomy of schema changes and examine their implications. We then propose a formal methodology for managing schema evolution using graph theory with a well-defined set of operators and graph-based algorithms for tracking and propagating schema changes. We show that these operators and algorithms preserve the consistency and correctness of the schema following the changes. The complete framework is embedded in prototype software system called SEMAD (Schema Evolution Management ADvisor). We evaluate the system for its usefulness by conducting exploratory case studies using two different heterogeneous database domains, viz., a University database environment and a scientific database environment that is used by atmospheric scientists and hydrologists. The results of the exploratory case studies supported the hypothesis that SEMAD does help database administrators in their tasks. The results indicate that SEMAD helps the administrators identify and incorporate changes better than performing these tasks manually. An important overhead cost in SEMAD is the creation of the semantic data model, capturing the meta data associated with the model, and defining the mapping information that relates the model and the set of underlying databases. This task is a one-time effort that is performed at the beginning. The subsequent changes are incrementally captured by SEMAD. However, the benefits of using SEMAD in dynamically managing schema evolution appear to offset this overhead cost.
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Rodgers, Thomas Lee. "Software inspections: Collaboration and feedback." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/289015.
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This dissertation studies impact of collaboration and feedback on software inspection productivity. Used as a software-engineering validation technique, software inspections can be a cost-effective method for identifying latent issues (defects) within design documents and program code. For over two years, Baan Company has used a generalized Electronic Meeting System (EMS also referred to as GroupWare) to support software inspections and reported EMS to be more productive than face-to-face paper-based inspections (Genuchten, 1998). Validation of this phenomenon and initial development of a potentially more effective specialized EMS (SEMS) tool is the basis of this dissertation. Explanations of the collaborative phenomenon are presented within a theoretical framework along with testable hypotheses. The framework is derived from Media Synchronicity Theory (Dennis and Valacich) and Focus Theory of Productivity (Briggs and Nunamaker). Two main research questions are explored. (1) Do collaboration tools improve software inspection productivity? (2) Can feedback dimensions that significantly improve productivity be identified and incorporated within software inspections? The first research question is supported. In a detailed reevaluation of the Baan study, EMS inspections are shown to be 32% more efficient than paper-based inspections. During the subsequent period, the results were more pronounced with EMS inspections being 66% more efficient even controlling for inspector proficiency. Significantly more conveying communication than convergent communication occurs during inspection meetings. EMS inspections enable more deliberation, less attention for communication, and more attention for information access compared to face-to-face paper-based inspections. The second research question is explored. Surveys and analysis probe some previously unexplored feedback dimensions (review rate, inspector proficiency and inspection process maturity). Experienced inspectors are surveyed regarding process maturity, inspector proficiency, and collaborative aspects of inspections. Preparation and review rates are necessary but not sufficient to explain productivity. Inspector proficiency is perceived to be important and multi-dimensional. Participation by highly proficient inspectors resulted in 49-76% more effective inspections. Significant inspection process variations exist within mature development organizations. Based on theory and experiences, the SEMS inspection tool is developed and a quasi-experiment proposed. Initial results using the SEMS inspection tool are reported and suggestions made for future enhancements.
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van, Ketwich Willem. "IT Governance of Cloud Computing| Performance Measures using an IT Outsourcing Perspective." Thesis, University of Melbourne (Australia), 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1527429.
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<p> With the advent of cloud computing and the success of the cloud computing industry, organisations are beginning to adopt this service model and technology at an increasing rate. As the rate and level of use increases, organisations are faced with how best to govern these investments and obtain maximum benefit from the services offered by providers. This includes measuring the performance of these services, the corresponding organisational performance and the associated business value generated. In investigating these areas, this study compares cloud computing and IT outsourcing. It is found that while cloud measures relate, to a great extent, to the operational level of an organisation, IT outsourcing measures are concerned more with the strategic level. This highlights that cloud computing lacks strategic measures and that measures from IT outsourcing may be adopted to fill this gap.</p>
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Mynyk, John. "Information technology programming standards and annual project maintenance costs." Thesis, University of Phoenix, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3578624.
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<p> Organizations that depend on the use of IT in their business models must maintain their systems and keep their systems current to survive (Filipek, 2008; Kulkarni, Kumar, Mookerjee, & Sethi, 2009; Unterkalmsteiner et al., 2012). As most IT departments allocate as much as 80% of their budget to maintain stability while leaving only the other 20% to allow improvements (Telea et al., 2010), high cost of stability may be a reason many IT organizations cannot afford efficient staffing and even jeopardize the existence of the organization (Filipek, 2008; Talib, Abdullah, Atan, & Murad, 2010). The purpose of this exploratory mixed methods study was to discover the IT programming standards used in IT departments that predict a decrease in project maintenance costs. This study employed an exploratory mixed methods data collection and analysis to develop and test a collection of universal programming standards. The qualitative portion of the study resulted in a list of IT programming standards from the Fortune 20 companies of 2011. Surveyed from IT departments in the Fortune 500 companies of 2011, the quantitative portion of this study correlate the degree of enforcement of each IT programming standard to a decrease in average project maintenance costs using a backward stepwise regression. Using a 95% confidence interval and a 5% margin of error (α = .05), the backward stepwise regression discarded 18 of the 22 IT programming standards. The remaining correlations give evidence that a) the more the department enforces waiting for feedback the higher the maintenance costs, b) the more the department enforces having the architectural team develop coding guidelines the lower the maintenance costs, and c) the more the IT department enforces the following of change management procedures, the higher the maintenance costs.</p>
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Liginlal, Divakaran. "Building fuzzy front-end decision support systems for new product information in global telecommunication markets: A measure theoretical approach." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/284835.
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In today's highly competitive business environment, innovation and new product introduction are recognized as the sustaining forces of corporate success. The early phases of new product development, collectively known as the 'front-end', are crucial to the success of new products. Building a fuzzy front-end decision support system, balancing the needs for analytical soundness and model robustness while incorporating decision-maker's subjectivity and adaptability to different business situations, is a challenging task. A process model and a structural model focusing on the different forms of uncertainties involved in new product introduction in a global telecommunication market are presented in this dissertation. Fuzzy measure theory and fuzzy set theory are used to build a quantitative model of the executive decision-process at the front-end. Solutions to the problem of exponential complexity in defining fuzzy measures are also proposed. The notion of constrained fiizzy integrals demonstrates how the fuzzy measure-theoretical model integrates resource allocation in the presence of project interactions. Forging links between business strategies and expert evaluations of critical success factors is attempted through fuzzy rule-based techniques in the framework of the proposed model. Interviews with new product managers of several American business firms have confirmed the need for building an intelligent front-end decision support system for new product development. The outline of a fuzzy systems development methodology and the design of a proof-of-concept prototype serve as significant contributions of this research work toward this end. In the context of executive decision making, a usability inspection of the prototype is carried out and results are discussed. A computational analysis, based upon methods of tactical systems simulation, measures the rank order consistency of the fuzzy measure theoretical approach in comparison with two competing fuzzy multiple attribute decision models under structural variations of the underlying models. The results demonstrate that (1) the modeling of the fuzzy numbers representing the linguistic variables, (2) the selection of the granularity of the linguistic scales, and (3) the selection of the model dimensions significantly affect the quality of the decisions suggested by the decision aid. A comprehensive plan for future validation of the decision aid is also presented.
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Hu, Paul Jen-Hwa 1962. "Management of telemedicine technology in healthcare organizations: Technology acceptance, adoption, evaluation, and their implications." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/282579.
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As an exciting information technology-based innovation, telemedicine has potential to enhance physicians' patient care and management, improve healthcare organizations' operations and performance, and cause a paradigmatic shift in health care toward a progressively emerging digital practice. Previous research has concentrated on technology developments and clinical applications and therefore offers limited discussion of technology management. Managing telemedicine technology in healthcare organizations is so complex and dynamic that it has been an important factor in the failure of many early telemedicine attempts. This dissertation research directly addressed organizational management of telemedicine technology. To deal with complexity and dynamism, the research took a multi-phase approach, using a research framework built upon a well-established theoretical foundation. Case study was used in the exploratory phase to provide detailed understanding of the underlying technology implementation process and to generate specific research questions or models for the subsequent descriptive/explanatory phase. Systematic linkage of these investigations was safeguarded by desired methodological triangulation. Findings from the case study and substantiating interviews identified technology acceptance, adoption and evaluation as problematic areas in organizational technology management. Findings of a survey study administered to most physicians practicing in public tertiary hospitals in Hong Kong suggested that perceived usefulness and ease of use, self-efficacy, and subjective norms were important to their accepting telemedicine technology. Similarly, a survey conducted with hospital executive officers, chiefs of service and center directors of all Hong Kong public healthcare establishments indicated that service needs, attitudes of medical staff, and the technology's benefits, risks and compatibility were essential to organizational technology adoption. In addition, results of an evaluative experimental study showed that the clinical decision- making of physicians can be improved through use of appropriate telemedicine technology. The combined findings suggested that these separate technology management issues were closely interrelated rather than isolated. Effects of a technology on physicians' patient care and management practice have important impacts on their technology acceptance, which, in turn, needs to be considered by their affiliating organization when making an adoption decision.
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Brown, Mary Erin. "Data-Driven Decision Making as a Tool to Improve Software Development Productivity." Thesis, Walden University, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3591716.
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<p> The worldwide software project failure rate, based on a survey of information technology software manager's view of user satisfaction, product quality, and staff productivity, is estimated to be between 24% and 36% and software project success has not kept pace with the advances in hardware. The problem addressed by this study was the limited information about software managers' experiences with data-driven decision making (DDD) in agile software organizations as a tool to improve software development productivity. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how agile software managers view DDD as a tool to improve software development productivity and to understand how agile software development organizations may use DDD now and in the future to improve software development productivity. Research questions asked about software managers', project managers', and agile coaches' lived experiences with DDD via a set of interview questions. The conceptual framework for the research was based on the 3 critical dimensions of software organization productivity improvement: people, process, and tools, which were defined by the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model Integrated published in 2010. Organizations focus on processes to align the people, procedures and methods, and tools and equipment to improve productivity. Positive social change could result from a better understanding of DDD in an agile software development environment; this increased understanding of DDD could enable organizations to create more products, offer more jobs, and better compete in a global economy.</p>
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Hammoud, Wissam. "Attributes effecting software testing estimation; is organizational trust an issue?" Thesis, University of Phoenix, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3583478.
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<p> This quantitative correlational research explored the potential association between the levels of organizational trust and the software testing estimation. This was conducted by exploring the relationships between organizational trust, tester’s expertise, organizational technology used, and the number of hours, number of testers, and time-coding estimated by the software testers. The research conducted on a software testing department of a health insurance organization, employed the use of the Organizational Trust Inventory- Short Form (OTI-SF) developed by Philip Bromiley and Larry Cummings and revealed a strong relationship between organizational trust and software testing estimation. The research reviews historical theories of organizational trust and include a deep discussion about software testing practices and software testing estimation. By examining the significant impact of organizational trust on project estimating and time-coding in this research, software testing leaders can benefit from this research to improve project planning and managing process by improving the levels of trust within their organizations.</p>
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Herman, Deirdre. "Asset Reuse of Images From a Repository." Thesis, Walden University, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3610257.
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<p> According to Markus's theory of reuse, when digital repositories are deployed to collect and distribute organizational assets, they supposedly help ensure accountability, extend information exchange, and improve productivity. Such repositories require a large investment due to the continuing costs of hardware, software, user licenses, training, and technical support. The problem addressed in this study was the lack of evidence in the literature on whether users in fact reused enough digital assets in repositories to justify the investment. The objective of the study was to investigate the organizational value of repositories to better inform architectural, construction, software and other industries whether repositories are worth the investment. This study was designed to examine asset reuse of medical images at a health information publisher. The research question focused on the amount of asset reuse over time, which was determined from existing repository transaction logs generated over an 8-year period by all users. A longitudinal census data analysis of archival research was performed on the entire dataset of 85,250 transaction logs. The results showed that 42 users downloaded those assets, including 11,059 images, indicating that the repository was used by sufficient users at this publisher of about 80 employees. From those images, 1,443 medical images were reused for new product development, showing a minimal asset reuse rate of 13%. Assistants (42%), writers (20%), and librarians (16%) were the primary users of this repository. Collectively, these results demonstrated the value of repositories in improving organizational productivity—through reuse of existing digital assets such as medical images to avoid unnecessary duplication costs—for social change and economic transformation.</p>
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Tiwari, Vikram. "Information sharing and coordinated capacity management in service delivery networks." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2008. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3331249.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, 2008.<br>Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 23, 2009). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: A, page: 4414. Advisers: Kurt M. Bretthauer; Munirpallam A. Venkataramanan.
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Taylor, Stella D. "Facilitating Browsing with Information Visualization: Is Animation a Powerful Scent?" Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2009. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/35311.
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Business Administration<br>Ph.D.<br>Search engines make vast amounts of information available to Internet users. Two types of tasks users engage in using search engines are closed-ended and open-ended. For closed-ended tasks, individuals have narrow objectives that require finding specific results. For open-ended tasks, individuals only have general objectives that require finding as much relevant information as possible about a topic, which can be difficult when large numbers of both relevant and irrelevant results are returned from a query. This can also leave users in a state of information overload. Some search engines have incorporated information visualization techniques (combining cognitive senses with visual cues that allow for better understanding the information) to facilitate browsing through results in order to reduce information overload. However, there is little research that identifies which visual cues are the most desirable for the presentation of search results.
According to information foraging theory, cues that have strong scents will help users find information faster. In this study, we investigate the effects of augmenting visualizations with animation as a powerful scent to help users more easily identify relevant information in search engine results. This study employs cognitive fit theory to study the effect of different information formats on users' performance in completing the two different tasks.
Overall, we find evidence that the effectiveness of cues such as animation is task-dependent. For example, we find that visualizations with animation are less effective than a standard textual display for subjects performing closed-ended web search tasks. The results of this study have strong implications for integrating appropriate cues into visualizations in order to help people find information.<br>Temple University--Theses
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Lundahl, Philpot Eva. "Social media adoption and use among information technology professionals and implications for leadership." Thesis, University of Phoenix, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3570894.
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<p>This sequential, mixed methods research addressed emerging social media use practices among IT professionals and explored lived experiences of senior IT leaders relative to successful organizational social media adoption and use. The study was informed by structuration theory and elements from the universal technology adoption and use (UTAUT) model, generation theory, and open leadership theory. In the first, quantitative descriptive research phase, an online survey was administered to describe IT professionals' uses of and attitudes toward social media in the workplace. Survey results based on 406 responses from IT professionals in the greater Seattle area indicated widespread use of different social media applications, and also showed that Millennial IT professionals use social media more extensively and are have more positive opinions about social media as compared to their older colleagues. Survey findings also indicated that an increasing number of employers are developing formal social media strategies and adopting policies and guidelines governing the use of social media in the workplace. The second, qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological research phase built on survey results and involved interviews with 13 senior IT leaders in the greater Seattle area. Findings indicated that despite the inherent user-driven nature of social media, senior leadership plays a key role in driving strategic social media adoption and in ensuring broad participation across generational cohorts and employee groups. Findings from the qualitative research phase further suggested that social media can help employees and stakeholders communicate and collaborate more effectively and efficiently, and that leaders can derive significant benefits from social media without compromising the integrity of their organizations. </p>
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Kwan, Denise. "Senior librarians' perceptions on successful leadership skills| A case study." Thesis, University of Phoenix, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3572917.
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<p> The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore senior librarians’ perceptions of successful leadership skills in the 21st century. Library organizations in the postindustrial environment of the 21st century operate in a new context involving digitization, global libraries, cultural diversity, cultural intelligence, and cross-cultural management. This new context requires a postindustrial paradigm of leadership emphasizing influence and collaboration as defined by Rost (1991). The purposive sample used for this case study consisted of 10 senior library leaders. The data gathered consisted of demographic information and responses to six open-ended interview questions. Data were entered, coded, and analyzed for themes and patterns using NVivo 10 software. The analysis revealed significant emergent themes relating to successful library leadership skills. Results from this case study suggest successful library leadership skills in the 21st century involve two levels: foundational level and interpersonal level. At the foundational level are technical and knowledge skills, which are the building blocks for the next level of interpersonal skills. Interweaving these interpersonal skills are persuasion skills and collaborative skills, both at the core of the postindustrial paradigm of leadership. These two levels of skills, with an emphasis on persuasion skills, should form the basis of succession planning programs for next generation librarians. Implementing such programs could lead to increased leadership diversity, greater job satisfaction, improved job performance and effectiveness, helping the retention of librarians, and easing staff shortage. Further studies are recommended.</p>
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Ng, Tobun Dorbin. "A concept space approach to semantic exchange." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/289095.
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This dissertation work investigates the use of information technologies that clarify semantic meaning to help users elaborate their information needs by providing library-specific knowledge to the information seeking process. The research involved two interdependent semantic technologies: concept space consultation and library-specific, domain-specific, automatically generated concept spaces. The concept space consultation phase used spreading activation algorithms--branch-and-bound and Hopfield net algorithms--to explore knowledge sources in specific domains. This research demonstrated the comparable effectiveness of exploration of a library database using a man-made classification scheme and thesaurus as opposed to an automatically generated concept space. The results showed that the use of spreading activation algorithms identified more relevant concepts than the use of the manual browsing method. The concept space technique automatically identifies and extracts concept from a library collection while at the same time computing the strength of associations between concepts. This research demonstrated that the concept space technique was able to create human-recognizable concepts and their associations. In addition, the technique could be scaled to generate very large library-specific concept spaces for a very large underlying library collection. Moreover, the interdependent use of both semantic technologies creates a semantic medium for users and library-specific knowledge sources to exchange content with context--context in user information need and that in corporeal knowledge.
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Ogunlade, Jacob Olusola. "Assessing the collaborative knowledge management of the market dominant organization." ScholarWorks, 2009. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/683.
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Dominant firms enjoy economic strengths which enable them to compete effectively in relevant markets through the use of collaborative knowledge management (CKM). While the literature is replete with general guiding principles for companies to adopt successful business strategies, there is very limited empirical research on effectively using CKM to improve company performance and market domination. The purpose of this study was to evaluate strategies for information sharing by companies to achieve better operations management and control, a wider range of customers, and stronger competitive edge in the global economy. Epistemological foundation for the study was provided by the literature on knowledge management and organizational dynamics. Data were collected by an electronically self-administered questionnaire on a convenience sample of 80 employees of three small businesses in Memphis, Tennessee. A quantitative method using Poisson regression was applied to test the hypotheses about relationships between six independent variables of value proposition, culture building, responsibilities, information technology, approaches and assessment and the dependent variable, collaborative knowledge management. Results indicate that value proposition, information technology, and building an organizational culture of responsibilities and best practices play significant roles in effective CKM. Social change implications of the study suggest that high-intensity collaborative knowledge management would produce creative leaders and workers, improved leader-worker collaboration, and more effective use of information technologies in organizational intelligence and decision making.
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Chan, Taylor. "Strategies to Improve Business Performance with Information from Social Media." ScholarWorks, 2018. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/5533.
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In the past 3 decades, China has experienced rapid economic growth. The China retail market reached renminbi (RMB) 29,651 billion in 2016, up by 10.4% from 2015. Using traditional ways that developed before the Internet era to acquire information regarding customers' changing preferences for products and services in a fast-moving business world is insufficient to support management in the retail industry to make informed strategic decisions. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore successful customer-centric strategies that business leaders used to improve business performance with marketing information acquired from social media. The population comprised business leaders from 5 different companies in the retail industry in Southern China who have successful experience in improving business performance with the marketing information acquired from social media. The conceptual framework for this study was built upon the diffusion of innovations theory. The data were collected through semistructured interviews, social media sites, and analyzed using Yin's 5-step data analysis process for case studies to identify themes. The findings revealed 3 emergent themes: knowledge strategies, persuasion and decision strategies, and implementation strategies. The findings from the study may contribute to positive social change when local employment opportunities can increase through increased employee spending in Southern China.
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Carmichael, Shenique. "Small Farm Management of Information Communication Technology, E-Commerce, and Organization Performance." ScholarWorks, 2017. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/4719.
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Many small farm farmers in the United States are reluctant to use information communication technology (ICT) and e-commerce, yet little is known about their decision-making rationale. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore U.S. small farm farmers' decision making, specifically, regarding use or non-use of e-commerce, in managing farm operations by using the Miles and Snow's typology of strategic management. The purposive sample consisted of 30 small farm farming operations in Kansas and Missouri with revenue less than $250,000 per annum. Data analysis was 3-tiered and involved use of horizontalization, thematic clustering, and synthesis. Using the Van Kaam method of data analysis, 4 themes emerged: (a) small farm farmers have a family-oriented farming experience with complex factors that lead to the reliance on fellow farmers for information and support; (b) small farm farmers rely on fellow farmers for advice and support as well as the use of established procedures in their farming operations; (c) while small farm farmers see the value in ICT in farming, many view it as either impractical or non-applicable for their own operations; and (d) small farm farmers recognized that ICT has a positive impact on farms productivity, income, and growth. However, some small farm farmers were reluctant to adopt ICT due to expenditure, location, and farm size concerns. Study findings also highlighted a few business models such as community-supported agriculture investment that small farm farmers use to enhance their daily farm operations. With insights from the study, small farm farmers in the United States may be able to improve their understanding of e-commerce applications, which could potentially lead to increased annual profits for these farmers, new customers and consistent product pricing for consumers.
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Drumheller, Dolores. "Information Withholding and the Management of Productivity in Teams." ScholarWorks, 2011. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/1059.
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The importance of good communications between team members has been well documented. Yet previous studies on communications between team members have neglected to focus on reasons for information withholding between people working on teams. The purpose of this case study of 16 engineers and 6 educators was to understand why team members withhold information when working together. A convenience sample was selected from a software engineering organization. Collective intelligence theory in a modern communications environment was used as the theoretical foundation. This theory posits that the synergy of full group collaboration results in enhanced performance and the spread of new ideas. The exploratory research questions addressed in this study were designed to understand how employees decide what information to withhold when participating on teams; how withholding information is influenced by critical thinking, creativity, positions on a team, and type of employee; and the effects of information withholding. Collected data from online interviews were transcribed and validated via member checks, coded using open and axial coding, and analyzed. Seven themes were found: insecurity, gate keeping, discrimination, personality, creativity, organizational structure, and team management. The results of this study may provide information that can help managers understand employees' experiences with, reactions to, and opinions about information withholding and provide strategies to create an environment in which team members do not withhold information from each other, thus improving or enhancing positive social change in organizations.
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Reinicke, Bryan Alan. "Building a systems level theory of IS integration in mergers and acquisitions." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2007. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3277979.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, 2007.<br>Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-09, Section: A, page: 3956. Adviser: Carol V. Brown. Title from dissertation home page (viewed May 5, 2008).
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Dedge, Parks Dana M. "Defining Data Science and Data Scientist." Scholar Commons, 2017. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7014.
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The world’s data sets are growing exponentially every day due to the large number of devices generating data residue across the multitude of global data centers. What to do with the massive data stores, how to manage them and defining who are performing these tasks has not been adequately defined and agreed upon by academics and practitioners. Data science is a cross disciplinary, amalgam of skills, techniques and tools which allow business organizations to identify trends and build assumptions which lead to key decisions. It is in an evolutionary state as new technologies with capabilities are still being developed and deployed. The data science tasks and the data scientist skills needed in order to be successful with the analytics across the data stores are defined in this document. The research conducted across twenty-two academic articles, one book, eleven interviews and seventy-eight surveys are combined to articulate the convergence on the terms data science. In addition, the research identified that there are five key skill categories (themes) which have fifty-five competencies that are used globally by data scientists to successfully perform the art and science activities of data science.
Unspecified portions of statistics, technology programming, development of models and calculations are combined to determine outcomes which lead global organizations to make strategic decisions every day.
This research is intended to provide a constructive summary about the topics data science and data scientist in order to spark the dialogue for us to formally finalize the definitions and ultimately change the world by establishing set guidelines on how data science is performed and measured.
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Williams, Andrew Stephen. "Effective Stakeholder Management Strategies for Information Technology Projects." ScholarWorks, 2017. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/4580.
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Information Technology (IT) projects have become critical to business strategy. However, one major issue is that, historically, IT projects have high failure rates, with scholars asserting that ineffective stakeholder management strategies were a major factor for project failure. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies IT executives use for managing IT project stakeholders by exploring the experiences of 2 CIOs and 4 IT directors in two multinational companies, based in Switzerland. Stakeholder theory was the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and company documentation, and analyzed using Yin's 5-step data analysis process to identify and code themes. Five main themes emerged from the data analysis: organizational culture, organizational maturity, leadership, competencies, and post-implementation reviews. The results of this study revealed the importance for leaders to articulate business strategies enabling stakeholders to have a common perspective on project objectives, and to act as a foundation upon which IT executives can create effective stakeholder management strategies. Results indicated that the deployment of effective stakeholder management strategies was dependent on several factors, including organizational culture, leadership style, competencies, and organizational maturity. Findings may contribute to positive social change by encouraging effective stakeholder management to improve knowledge sharing, individual and team motivation, management across cultural boundaries, and stimulate a culture of social responsibility and sustainability.
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Herman, Elizabeth M. "Exploring knowledge loss in the contact center: Key loss areas, contributing factors, and performance metric implications." ScholarWorks, 2009. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/704.
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Knowledge loss, or organizational forgetting, is often overlooked in knowledge management frameworks, yet it costs organizations money, personnel, efficiency, and customer service. The purpose of this mixed model case study was to understand, using a model of forgetting as the conceptual framework, where and why loss occurred and to examine performance implications. An inbound telephone contact center was studied because of prolific changes in that industry regarding knowledge complexity and performance. The researcher interviewed 20 participants, observed 63 calls, and reviewed 3 months of performance data including average handle time, first call resolution percentages, and time spent on after call work. Key research questions addressed areas of loss, contributing factors, and operational impacts. Using theme-based coding and chi-square goodness of fit analyses for the qualitative data coupled with descriptive analyses and frequency distributions for the quantitative data, results showed that loss occurred because of attitudinal resistance to change, unlearning, and lack of organizational standards. Average handle time and first call resolution metrics were negatively impacted. Contributing factors included culture, leadership support, and limited follow-through from lessons learned. Recommendations include establishing a formal disposal process to remove outdated knowledge from knowledge management tools and establishing incentives to encourage employees to contribute knowledge, which can lead to higher staff engagement of those tools and improved customer service. The social change significance is that addressing knowledge loss can promote fiscal sustainability and revenue generation, thereby preventing layoffs or organizational closures.
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Santanen, Eric Lawrence. "Directed brainstorming and the Cognitive Network Model of Creativity: An empirical investigation of cognitive factors related to the formation of creative solutions using an electronic brainstorming environment." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/279925.
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This dissertation presents the Cognitive Network Model of Creativity. This causal model posits that creative solutions occur when new associations are formed between disparate elements from memory. The likelihood of forming new associations is a positive function of the disparity between these elements and an inverse function of the problem solver's cognitive load. Cognitive load is, in turn, a positive function of the disparity between elements and the quantity of stimuli per unit of time to which the problem solver is exposed. Cognitive load is also an inverse function of the extent to which elements may be combined. The disparity between elements is a positive function of stimuli diversity, while the extent to which elements may be combined is an inverse function of stimuli diversity. Thus, the Cognitive Network Model of creativity represents a highly plausible answer to the research question: "What is a basic cognitive mechanism responsible for producing creative solutions to a problem?" that is grounded in group support systems, cognitive psychology, problem solving, and creativity research. Sixty one four-person groups participated in one of two experimental problem solving tasks designed to evaluate the model. The solution space for each task was partitioned into five smaller domains based upon known criteria for good solutions. Four directed brainstorming prompts were derived from each domain. These twenty prompts were then arranged to create three treatment conditions with respect to stimuli diversity (low, medium, and high). In each treatment, one directed brainstorming prompt was delivered to the electronic brainstorming supported groups every two minutes; groups in the control condition received no facilitation. Initial findings consistent with the model suggest that people using directed electronic brainstorming produce higher concentrations of creative solutions than people using free brainstorming because directed brainstorming focuses the efforts of the problem solvers on specific goals while simultaneously providing ready access to discontiguous areas of memory that help problem solvers avoid bounded, familiar, and narrow thought patterns. Findings show directed brainstorming advantages for low stimuli diversity, resulting in sharply focused creative solutions, and high stimuli diversity, resulting in broadly focused creative solutions. Medium diversity facilitation bestowed no benefit.
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McQuaid, Michael Joseph. "The impact of time-based text visualization on situation awareness." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/290011.
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Overabundance of information has been well documented as a drag on human performance. Theoretical constructs such as visual dominance have led to visualization systems as a palliative, integrating cumbersome amounts of incoming data into more tractable forms. Most such systems have accepted only numerical inputs. I designed, developed, and evaluated a time-based visualization system for textual information, using situation awareness theory to evaluate the system. The system analyzes texts, such as emails and instant messages, as they arrive on the desktop and presents a labeled display, using suffix tree clustering and multidimensional scaling, of similarity between texts, updated as the mix of incoming texts changes. The system aids decision makers subject to information overload. I evaluated the system's performance under a simulated crisis in which groups of 30 students played the role of advisors to the University president during a recreation of an actual campus shooting. Half of the students used the visualization system to receive input, while half used a competing text-based system. Subjects were evaluated using an instrument drawn from situation awareness theory and found to achieve higher levels of situation awareness using the visualization system. Additional measures collected provide some guidelines for design of text-oriented, time-based visualization systems.
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Aakhus, Mark Alan 1964. "The communication logics of computer-supported facilitative interventions: A study of the community of practice and social technologies surrounding the use of group decision support systems in process facilitation." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/288721.
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Computer supported facilitation is a form of third party intervention that uses advanced information technology to deliver non-authoritative intervention on organizational decision making. The goal of this type of intervention is to create communication events where decision making and decision outcomes are collaboratively produced by those who have a stake in the decision. The facilitator's role is to assure decision making progress without taking sides or rendering a final decision. The obligations of facilitation form competing injunctions for practicing facilitation. Facilitative intervention must be performed so that it influences decision activity without influencing decision outcomes, facilitators must participate in decision making without becoming a party to the decision, and facilitators must enforce decision procedures without coercing participant acceptance of the procedures. The evolution of the field is marked by innovations in practice and role definitions that seek more effective means to reconcile the competing demands of the role and the changing circumstances of the intervention context. Computer supported facilitation is a technologically advanced form of intervention that combine skills of facilitators with the capacities of collaborative computing technology to more efficiently and effectively deliver decisions for organizations facing a choice. The facilitator designs and carries out interventions by using group decision support systems that enable anonymous participation, simultaneous communication of ideas, geographic and chronological distribution of participation, and the electronic storage of contributions. This investigation finds that while technical advances help facilitators overcome the numerous barriers to decision making communication, the advances in technique and technology are prescriptions for decision making communication built on inadequate descriptive assumptions about the nature of communication. The community of facilitation practice and its technologies operate on the dubious assumption that communication process and content are in fact distinct. The community of practice, however, is caught up in preserving this distinction as its solution to the paradoxes of doing non-authoritative intervention. The dissertation demonstrates this state of affairs by showing the set of premises for facilitative action embodied in the process management view of the practice, the methods of transparency work which uphold intervention neutrality, and the way the community treats an innovation on practice.
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Sibona, Christopher. "Predicting social networking sites continuance intention| Should I stay or should I go?" Thesis, University of Colorado at Denver, 2015. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3667242.
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<p> This research develops and tests models to predict continuance intention on social networking sites. The models adds new factors which are relevant to social networking sites continuance intention. The social networking site continuance model adds five factors: personal innovativeness, habit, attitude toward alternatives, interpersonal influence, and consumer switching costs to enhance the predictive power of information systems continuance. Interpersonal influence, alternative perceptions and procedural and relational costs are theorized to have a direct effect on continuance intention. Personal innovativeness and habit are theorized to have a direct and moderating effects on continuance intention. The results have a large positive effect of the explanatory power in explaining more of the variance of continuance intention on a social networking site. The information systems (IS) continuance model explains approximately 66.8% of the variance and the social networking site continuance model with the five added factors explains 76.7% of the variance and is considered to have a large effect in the explained variance. All of the factors have statistical significance; the factors with the largest path coefficients are, in order, satisfaction & perceived usefulness (<i>β</i> = 0.3686), consumer switching costs (β = 0.2496), alternative perceptions (<i>β</i> = -0.2069), habit (<i>β</i> = 0.1642), personal innovativeness (<i>β</i> = -0.0589) and interpersonal influence (<i>β</i> = -0.0451). Habit and personal innovativeness, as moderators, were not statistically significant and did not substantially aid in the interpretation of the factors. The research helps explains the relevant factors for why users of social networking sites will continue to use or abandon a site.</p>
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Malopinsky, Larissa V. "Facilitating organizational change the use of activity theory as a framework for social construction of strategic knowledge /." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2007. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3297945.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Instructional Systems Technology, 2007.<br>Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-03, Section: A, page: 1062. Adviser: Thomas M. Schwen. Title from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 30, 2008).
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Robert, Lionel P. "Social capital and knowledge integration in virtual teams." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2006. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3243774.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, 2006.<br>Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Nov. 17, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-12, Section: A, page: 4612. Adviser: Alan R. Dennis.
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Bates, Anthony Shawn. "The Trilogy of Science: Filling the Knowledge Management Gap with Knowledge Science and Theory." ScholarWorks, 2017. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/3977.
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The international knowledge management field has different ways of investigating, developing, believing, and studying knowledge management. Knowledge management (KM) is distinguished deductively by know-how, and its intangible nature establishes different approaches to KM concepts, practices, and developments. Exploratory research and theoretical principles have formed functional intelligences from 1896 to 2013, leading to a knowledge management knowledge science (KMKS) concept that derived a grounded theory of knowledge activity (KAT). This study addressed the impact of knowledge production problems on KM practice. The purpose of this qualitative meta-analysis study was to fit KM practice within the framework of knowledge science (KS) study. Themed questions and research variables focused on field mechanisms, operative functions, principle theory, and relationships of KMKS. The action research used by American practitioners has not established a formal structure for KS. The meta-data-analysis examined 385 transdisciplinary peer-reviewed articles using social science, service science, and systems science databases, with a selection of interdisciplinary studies that had a practice-research-theory framework. Key attributes utilizing Boolean limiters, words, phrases and publication dates, along with triangulation, language analysis and coding through analytic software identified commonalities of the data under study. Findings reflect that KM has not become a theoretically saturated field. KS as the forensic science of KM creates a paradigm shift, causes social change that averts rapid shifts in management direction and uncertainty, and connects KM philosophy and science of knowledge. These findings have social change implications by informing the work of managers and academics to generate a methodical applied science.
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Walkosz, Barbara Jean 1947. "A micro level analysis of communication strategies utilized in the television advertisements of male and female candidates." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/290637.
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American women continue to be severely underrepresented in the number of elected political positions held. One of the obstacles that women face when seeking public office are gender stereotypes which reinforce beliefs that women may be less viable candidates than men. Gender stereotypes influence a range of evaluations about candidates including judgments about their credibility, competency, and communication strategies. This study analyzes communication campaign strategies as one area in which gender stereotyping may influence voters. Television political advertisements are the context for this analysis because of the increased relevance of advertising in imparting candidate image and issue information to the voters. Language Expectancy Theory and literature from the nonverbal communication field provided the theoretical rationale for this study. A micro-level analysis of the verbal and nonverbal communication strategies in political advertising was conducted to determine if these strategies adhered to or countered gender stereotypes. A total of 124 political advertisements of male and female candidates were content analyzed. Results of the study indicate that differences existed in how male and female candidates presented their image to the electorate. Specifically, for the verbal strategies examined, women candidates used less intense language, less humor, less direct attacks, and more prosocial strategies than their male counterparts. However, no differences were found between how men and women made references to autonomy nor were differences identified in their use of opinionated language. For the nonverbal communication strategies, women were coded as having more pleasant voices, and as using more immediate and dominant kinesic cues. No differences were identified in regard to trait characteristics emphasized nor issues mentioned in the ads. The discussion focuses on how these findings can assist scholars in understanding the communication strategies male and female candidates utilized, and if these strategies supported or violated communication stereotypes. The findings of the study can facilitate future research related to understanding how female candidates can increase the persuasive efficacy of their political advertisements.