Browsing by Subject "Organizational Learning"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    The Conspicuous, Inconspicuous, Irrelevant, and Unknown Influence of Leadership, Performance Information, and Organizational Learning: Student Literacy Achievement in Middle School Grade Levels
    (2018-12) Uhler, Andrew
    This study was designed to understand to what extent, if at all, performance information and organizational learning used within public schools serving middle school grade levels, or grades sixth, seventh, and eighth, influenced student achievement in literacy. A total of 26 interviews were conducted within six schools in the Minneapolis Public School system, three schools that had the highest reading scores, as measured by MCAs, and three schools that showed the most improvement in reading scores. A minimum of three teachers of literacy, language arts or social studies teachers, and one principal from each school were interviewed. Four themes arose from the interviews. First, principals and teachers in the schools that moved the most students to proficient levels in literacy used structural learning mechanisms to improve student achievement in literacy. Second, effective cultural learning mechanisms that created shared values and beliefs among staff members were used in the schools that moved the most students to proficiency. Third, accurate student performance information was used more systematically and more frequently when the principal set expectations through cultural and structural learning mechanisms. Fourth, the principal created the expectations and environment in which increasing student achievement in literacy was the primary role of the teacher. An implication of this study is that researchers may learn more about leading effective literacy teaching in middle school grade levels by exploring processes used at schools that are moving the most students into proficient levels of literacy.
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    The effects of learning organization practices on organizational commitment and effectiveness for small and medium-sized enterprises in Taiwan.
    (2010-06) Tseng, Chien-Chi
    This study explored the effects of learning organization practices on organizational commitment and effectiveness in Taiwanese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The research question is, "What are the effects of learning organization practices on organizational commitment and organizational effectiveness for SMEs in Taiwan?" A framework for three hypotheses were explored: 1) Learning organization practices have a positive effect on perceived organizational commitment; 2) Learning organization practices have a positive effect on perceived organizational effectiveness; and 3) Organizational commitment has a positive relationship with organizational effectiveness. The study used a quantitative research design. Three measurements were used to form an integrated 58 item instrument. It includes: 1) The Dimensions of Learning Organization Questionnaire (Marsick & Watkins, 1999, 2003), 21 items; 2) Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979), 9 items; and 3) Survey of Organizations (Taylor & Bower, 1972), 20 items. In addition, demographic information, 8 items, comprised a fourth section in the questionnaire. The instrument was back-translated from English to Chinese. The validity of the three components of the instrument was examined by factor analysis, and the relationships were tested by correlation and structural equation modeling (SEM). In addition, descriptive analysis was used for the demographic information, items, dimensions, and instrument's characteristics. The research used a self-administered computer-based Internet survey to collect the research data. The data were collected from a sample of 300 SMEs including 152 outstanding awarded SMEs (AOSMEs) and 148 incubating start-up SMEs (ISSMEs) in Taiwan. IRB approval was sought. Permission from the publishers to use the instrument was obtained. The results suggested that learning organization practices can be viewed as an important antecedent factor for organizational commitment, as well as an antecedent factor for organizational effectiveness. It has a moderately positive association with organizational effectiveness and a strongly positive relation with organizational commitment. Furthermore, the relationship between organizational commitment and organizational effectiveness is reciprocal but not equal. Organizational commitment has a moderately positive impact on organizational effectiveness; however, organizational effectiveness has a weak positive influence on organizational commitment. The findings not only provided a new direction for organizational research on key variables, but also generated an important implication for organizational practice: Strengthening learning organization practices is a wise way to create organizational effectiveness; strong learning organization practices are good to develop the organizational commitment; and the well developed organizational commitment is an advantage to foster organizational effectiveness.
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    Organizational Learning for Student Success: Exploring the roles of institutional actors
    (2016-06) Taylor, Leonard
    Calls for institutional onus in efforts to increase student success, and the increasingly data-centered culture in higher education institutions, make it especially important to understand the roles that administrators, staff, and faculty play. This study explores institutional actors’ roles in supporting student success, particularly in their consumption and application of research knowledge, institutional data, and best-practice to inform institutional efforts. This multi-site case study conducted at three public, research universities; included semi-structured interviews and document analysis to generate emergent themes, and critical discourse analysis to further interrogate those themes. Findings suggest that institutional structure, culture, and politics present explicit and implicit barriers to enhancing student success. Student success efforts are largely predicated on institutional data, with little discussion of research knowledge to guide practice. Additionally, discourses that emerged from interview narratives reveal how institutional actors’ own dispositions and paradigms sometimes impede their student success work. Continuing to understand how institutional actors and factors inform student success efforts helps expand institutions’ capacity to improve student success efforts and subsequent educational outcomes for students.
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    Organizational performance improvement in higher education student affairs: a phenomenographic study.
    (2011-08) Froehlich, Jill Carrie Menk
    The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of the experiences of student services staff in a midwestern university during an organizational change: implementation of quality practices and principles. The experiences were captured as they reflected during the interview process. The interview data were organized into 35 concepts from which five themes emerged. The five themes or categories identified in this study were: Experience of Change, Approach to My Work, Changes in Organizational Structure, Employee Morale, and Learning. Universities and institutions of higher education are under great pressure as state and federal budgets get tighter, and funding for higher education is being cut significantly. As administrators and staff look to gain efficiencies and improve outcomes, they will be implementing organizational change. Continual process improvement (CPI) and total quality management (TQM) have evolved since the 1980s, when they were popularized in the United States. Although success cases have been noted (e.g., Baldrige Award winners in Education), the adoption of these practices in education has not been widespread. Recommendations for improvements to the implementation of quality practices and principles in higher education administration settings include understanding the staff perspective of data collection, staffing, and feeling a sense of progress. The predominant paradigm in organizational change is that of episodic change: change is controllable with a distinct beginning and end and that the entire change process can be managed. Another paradigm to be considered and integrated is that of continuous change found in complex, adaptive systems and is organic in nature.
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    Perceptions of relationships between district and school level administratorson student achievement.
    (2010-09) Brookins, Tyrone
    The purpose of this qualitative study was to assess the extent to which perceived Using a case study of an urban school district, serving 40,000 students in the Midwest region of the United States, this study investigated district and school administrative leaders' perceptions of how their interactions influenced the achievement of black students. Methods of research included an analysis of documents and interviews. The study identified perceptual differences between administrative groups regarding the influences their relationships have on the academic achievement of students. District administrators perceived that they influenced student achievement indirectly and the major impact resulted from their direct support of school level leaders. School level leaders perceived that student achievement was influenced by their strategic efforts related to instructional leadership with minimal direction or support from district level leadership. Neither administrative group targeted the achievement of black students and indicated that their efforts were directed toward all students. A notable finding from the study was the school level administrator's inability to utilize a broadminded view of the district as a whole rather than a myopic view of their individual sites. Further research on the application of reflective practice within administrative groups, for the purpose of increasing the learning of the greater organization, is recommended.