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Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Show moreDuring recent history, too many nonprofit organizations of higher education have become well known due to highly publicized cases of wrongdoing, which has contributed to the decline in confidence from the public. Contemporaneously, the for-profit corporate sector grappled with the ramifications of catastrophic failures. In response to these combined crises there has been a movement for greater accountability and responsibility from the public upon the governing boards of the organizations because the primary responsibility for these organizations vests with the board. This renewed interest has inspired this study to further understand how board members describe how they enact their responsibilities effectively. In this study data were obtained from twelve trustees from five organizations of higher education through phenomenological interviews. The data indicate that board members who consider themselves effective are actively participating through the board committee sub-structure, and they are motivated by a strong emotion and sustained by a commitment to the organization. Further, the members recognize the importance of understanding the organization along with their roles and responsibilities while balancing their power with the power of the internal officers, particularly the chief executive officer.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Show moreThis study presents the results of an investigation into the use of metaphorical language in the summary and business description sections of Intial Public Offerings (IPO) prospectuses of both Internet and non-Internet companies. This research examined fifteen Internet companies and nine non-Internet companies, which were chosen at random, that completed IPOs between January 1, 1999 and August 6, 1999 for metaphorical use that was either common to both sets of companies or specific to the Internet companies. The research attempted to demonstrate that there is strong evidence for the theory that descriptive language used in the IPO prospectuses is metaphorical and not literal. The research also supported the hypotheses that there were metaphors common to all IPOs and that there were metaphors primarily used by Internet companies. Further the research indicated that the common metaphors could be grouped and arranged into hierarchially organized categories from ontological experiences to experiential conceptualizations. The specific categories that were reflected in these prospectuses, starting from the ontological, were sense of awareness and place, spatial orientation, perception, boundaries/containers, perception, physical manipulation, animation/objectification, and paradigmatic experiences. The two primarly paradigmatic metaphors were BUSINESS IS WAR and INFORMATION IS A SOLID/LIQUID. Numerous instances from the prospectuses were used to support these findings. The metaphorical use that differentiated Internet companies from non-Internet companies was the use by Internet companies of metaphors of place and performance. Of the two, the metaphors of place were the most prevalent and were grouped into the following types of places: local, distant, the frontier, and transition places. It was theorized that a sense of place is one of the most basic experiential senses, and that the tension between this need for a sense of place and the placelessness of the Internet explained the use of metaphors. The sense of performance metaphor was primarily centered on the metaphor of audiences being used to describe active Internet users. Conceptual theories to explain this include both an attempt to apply the most enduring concept of knowledge transfer, a narrator and his or her audiences, and a need to frame this as a controlled knowledge transfer as is done by a stage performance.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Cleveland Play House Collection, Kelvin Smith Library
Show moreThe term "capacity building" has caught on quickly within the nonprofit sector, specifically with Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs). In fact, many funding organizations, agencies and foundations are now requesting that their partners engage in capacity building activities. How then, do we determine which organizations have the capacity to adhere to their mission statements and to deliver their services in a sustained fashion? This is an important question for two reasons. First, it asks us to identify the factors which lead to capacity, and second, it suggests that capacity building is a continuous process. This study proposes a relational process of building an organization's future. It supports a greater appreciation and awareness of the importance of building multi-organizational and global capacities. The relational capacity building framework introduces definitions, insights and guidelines that help the organization create capacity at different levels as well as define core capabilities. This framework allows organizations to see where they are today and establish a vision for tomorrow. It helps them to clerly understand their directions, views, values and capabilities to create a learning environment for capacity building at the same time they are actively involved in creating their future. In so doing, it offeres both utility and value for NGOs, donor organizations, governmental agencies, researchers and policy makers. While predominately donor driven, capacity building cannot be understood by only considering a Northern NGO (NNGO) or donor's perspective. The issue is driven by the interdependency between NNGOs and Southern NGOs (SNGOs). This study will conser both perspectives and was created from an in-depth analysis of four NNGOs, and data from a thorought literature review and meta-ethnography of six SNGOs. The Global Excellence in Management Initiative (GEM) organization worked with the researcher in the proposal stage to help identify the key research questions and other primary and secondary sources of information. GEM is a university-based program of learning and education that works in partnership with U.S. Private Voluntary Organizations (PVOs) and international NGOs (INGOs) to conduct capacity building programs. The study answers specific questions from multiple perspectives: What is capacity? What is capacity building? What is organziational capacity, multi-organizational capacity and global capacity? what are the core capabilities that allow for capacity at each level? The nature of the design was a multi-method qualitative study, combining a formal synthesis of selected published studies with original field investigation. The field study used an organizational development process known as appreciative inquiry in the design of the interview protocols, collection of data and preparation and analysis of cases. Appreciative inquiry is a method which attempts to discover "the best of what is" in any organizational/human system. Over 100 interviews were completed with thirty-two participants -- scholars, policy makers and practitioners in the field, primarily from Christian Relief World Resource Committee (CRWRC), the Center for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA), Counterpart International and Pact -- to discover and understand the ways in which these orgranizations and their partners build capacity. These same research questions were used in a meta-ethnography (interpretive synthesis) of six published studies involving SNGOs. It is important to note that this project was not intended as purely theoretical work. Instead, it is the intention of the researcher to offer a contribution which is both practical and actionable. The study concludes with the development of the framework and a discussion of capacity building as a relational process for organizaing and creating an organization's future.
Doctorate of Management Programs
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