Browsing by Subject "Human resource development"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Committed to entrepreneurial activity and social mission: what is the experience of social entrepreneurship
    (2012-06) Bailey, Jeanne Marie
    Social entrepreneurship continues to receive significant attention in the academy, practice, and public conversation. As an emerging field, the literature reflects varying perspectives on the topic but offers little on the understanding of the experience of social entrepreneurship. Using van Manen's (1997) approach to structuring human science research, I used hermeneutic phenomenology to answer the question, "What is it like to be a social entrepreneur?" A new definition of the work of a social entrepreneur was developed to assist in screening. Eleven social entrepreneurs, representing ten organizations, participated in in-depth interviews transcribed into texts. During the interviews, participants shared experiences reflecting their thoughts, ideas, and feelings about the experience of social entrepreneurship. The texts were analyzed, the results verified with the participants, and needed adjustments made. Three main theme categories were revealed: origins; living the life; and looking forward. Eight themes and 13 subthemes included: (a) personal experience and impactful events as preparation; awareness of community need, and need for change; self-knowledge; tolerance for risk and change, and action orientation (b) integration of business and social principles into structure; personal engagement; defining moments: demands and complexities of the role; relationship aspects; dealing with uncertainty and interaction with outside entities (c) leadership awareness; changing roles and sustainability. The insights gained provide opportunity for practice enhancements and further research on the importance of social need as part of opportunity identification, leadership development in social entrepreneurship, new roles with philanthropy, and the development of metrics to measure effectiveness and support sustainability. Practice implications include opportunity for new models of community support, teaching of social entrepreneurship and greater involvement of HRD in both practice and leadership. Opportunity exits to expand on the definition of social entrepreneurship.
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    Mind the gap: a case study of values-based decision making in a nonprofit organization
    (2013-08) Craft, Jana L.
    Using an exploratory case study approach, this research examined the consistency between espoused and enacted values within a large nonprofit organization known as an ethical leader in the human services industry. This research explored ethical business culture, ethical decision making, deontological and utilitarian moral paradigms and learning organization theory. The process of values-based decision making was dissected and analyzed in order to understand why and how it was used. Findings revealed a gap between hierarchical levels and corporate and satellite locations in several areas. Yet, strong ethical culture and ethical decision making practices were evident. Further, differing philosophical viewpoints were found to exist between higher and lower organizational levels. The study concluded with recommendations for Human Resource Development-related practices that help address the gap between espoused and enacted values and more fully operate as a learning organization to strengthen the ethical business culture and better understand the benefits of ethical decision making.
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    The relationship between workplace incivility and the intention to share knowledge: The moderating effects of collaborative climate and personality traits.
    (2010-08) Shim, JiHyun
    The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between the experience of workplace incivility and the intention to share knowledge. Additionally, this study explores the moderating effect of collaborative climate and individual personality traits on the relationship between them. The data were obtained from twenty-two Korean companies. The survey consisted of five sections used to measure the experience of workplace incivility, the intention to share knowledge, collaborative climate, individual personality, and demographics. In total, 494 surveys were returned out of 600, and 476 were cleaned for data analysis (79.3%). Reliability tests, correlations, hierarchical multiple regressions and ANOVAs were employed to investigate the research hypotheses. The results of this study showed a negative relationship between the experience of workplace incivility and the intention to share knowledge. Additionally, this study showed the moderating effect of an individual personality trait, conscientiousness, on the relationship between the experience of workplace incivility and the intention to share knowledge. More specifically, conscientious people are more likely to share knowledge, in spite of the experience of workplace incivility. Implications for future research include further development of workplace incivility measurement tools for Korean settings. Additionally, there are plenty of areas to be explored in order to show the ill effects of workplace incivility, such as leader-member relationships, employee engagement, and organizational citizenship behaviors. In addition, implications for practitioners include providing orientation and training sessions about the concept of workplace incivility, and developing interventions for workplace incivility to prevent its prevalence in organizations. For victims to report incidents of workplace incivility, the 360-degree feedback system should be considered.
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    Structuring synchronicity: mentoring as a component of leadership development programs in higher education
    (2014-04) Bonebright, Denise Annette
    The need to develop a pool of well-qualified future leaders is a key concern for human resource development scholars and practitioners in higher education. Research indicates that formal leadership development programs are most effective when they are based on experiential models. Mentoring is one experiential component that can enhance such programs by providing context, opportunities to develop and practice leadership behaviors, and assistance with career decision making.This study was a qualitative case study of a leadership development program, the Minnesota Partnership for Executive Leader Development, which included a variety of mentoring options. Two units of analysis were embedded in the case. By examining the program from the viewpoint of the sponsoring organizations and individual participants, the study sought to understand the organizational intent for mentoring and how it was experienced by the cohort members. Findings indicated that mentoring is most effective when activities occur within a formal structure that is grounded in a clearly articulated set of program goals and expectations and when the activities take into account the individual needs, circumstances, and experiences of the program participants. The research related to design of formal mentoring programs is limited. This study added to the literature by proposing a definition of mentoring, identifying mentee characteristics that may influence mentoring outcomes, and proposing mentoring strategies that may be appropriate for meeting specific types of program goals. Results can be used to inform development of similar mentoring programs within higher education.