Browsing by Subject "Socialization"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Are School Boards Equipped to Govern Effectively in the Era of Equity (2015 to Present)?
    (2022-09) Link, Holly
    School boards diligently strive to demonstrate their accountability amidst continual criticism, currently at a heightened level following the COVID-19 pandemic, with ensuing drops in student achievement. The responsibilities of a school board are often misunderstood by their community, and school boards themselves are struggling in this era of equity (2015 to present) to define effective school board governance, and to equip their board members to govern effectively. This quantitative exploratory research documented current school board member socialization experiences and found that school board socialization programs are narrow in scope, not comprehensive, and inconsistently implemented, creating risk for inefficient and ineffective governance. The study revealed that current school board governance effectiveness is inconsistently evaluated. School board socialization programs are rarely, if ever, monitored through school board policy monitoring nor periodically evaluated using a valid instrument. This research used a broadened aperture to view school board member socialization, from the time period prior to a member’s board service through their exit from the board. The research found statistically significant and substantively meaningful relationships between school board socialization practices with board member reported readiness to govern, and with perceived exhibited school board effectiveness characteristics. Implications of the study results for theory, research and practice are offered, and a preliminary model for a research-based, comprehensive school board member socialization program is proposed.
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    Everyday Oppression: The Challenges of Belonging for Underrepresented Doctoral Students at a Predominantly White Institution
    (2017-11) Hermida, Alexander
    The attrition of doctoral students in U.S. higher education, especially those who are underrepresented, is an understudied problem. This study examines how underrepresented minority doctoral students experience belonging at a predominantly White institution in the Midwest to identify factors that lead to attrition. The study used a mixed methods approach to examine students’ experiences of sense of belonging via a survey and semi-structured interviews. Findings from a regression analysis indicate that underrepresented students score lower in measures of sense of belonging as compared to White students. The interview data suggest that students of color frequently experience microaggressions and a racialized campus climate. Furthermore, students of color internalize these experiences to the detriment of their psychological and emotional well-being. Interview data also suggest that students who build a strong sense of community in their academic discipline have a stronger overall sense of belonging.
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    Expectations, socialization and safe spaces: an exploration of the experiences of middle school students with disabilities
    (2014-05) Johnson, Lisa Ann
    Historically, disability has been understood as a strictly individualized medical experience and considered a deficit. The person with a disability needed to be treated or rehabilitated by professionals. Recently, the social model of disability has offered a different perspective, one that situates disability within a social context. The "problem" of disability does not reside within an individual but instead within the social structures, policies and environment that create unnecessary barriers for a person. These barriers certainly can be found in our schools, and this study explored how one rural middle school, recognized regionally as "doing great things for students with disabilities," responded to the social and academic needs of its special education population. This year-long ethnographic study began in the summer of 2011 when I began meeting with school personnel to learn the norms of the special education program. During the school year, I was present four to five full days per week. Data collection methods included participation observation in formal spaces (classrooms) and informal spaces (cafeteria, hallways, recess and field trips), individual and small group interviews and document collection and analysis. While many students and staff made this study possible, my focal participants included 18 students in grades five through eight, four parents, many teachers and aides and two school administrators. I focused on three areas of interest. The first was related to the school's use of formal curriculum for educating "about the other" (Kumashiro, 2002) that took the form of a disability unit. Students "put on" disabilities during simulations, completed research and gave speeches related to the medical nature of disability. This succeeded in reaffirming traditional stereotypes of disability as a strictly medical problem or personal tragedy. A second focus was on the ways expectations for students with disabilities were communicated through the students' access to meaningful, high quality instruction and in the ways staff talked to and about students with disabilities. In many instances, students experienced "dumbed down" instruction, if they received instruction at all, that did not meet their individual needs. In other situations, students were talked about in violent ways that indicated some teachers' perceptions that students with disabilities were not capable of a meaningful existence. A final area of focus explored the unlikely safe space that occurred in a detention classroom. Students gathered, by choice, to support one another and figure out what it meant to be marginalized in this school. This work responds to a call for research done by researchers who are themselves disabled with children and teens who are disabled and has implications for how we think about and teach students with disabilities in our schools.
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    How the role of socialization affects blended learning methodologies for faculty working with teams in a healthcare setting.
    (2010-07) Kenny, Kevin J.
    When looking at healthcare education settings, one barrier to understanding the nature of socialization and its effect on teaching methodology design is the advent of blended learning formats used within education departments. The author utilized qualitative research using grounded theory with deductive, verification and inductive processes to help determine how the role of socialization influence these methodologies. The intent of this study was to learn how socialization considerations affect blended learning methodologies and formats for faculty working with teams in a healthcare setting. The research included analysis of case studies derived from interviews of a medical school educator, graduate school faculty member, clinical laboratory educator and professional developer working at Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota. Interviewees were key members in each of their respective areas and had varying levels of background using blended learning formats for groups/teams in their courses. The primary question posed to the interviewees was: how does the role of socialization affect blended learning methodologies for faculty working with teams in a healthcare setting? The author utilized NVivo software to code transcripts and to help with analyzing interviews and other data. Additionally, triangulation of the raw data was used with other researchers experienced in qualitative research. Results of the study are continually forthcoming but themes emerged centered around methodologies fostering three attributes of socialization for groups in healthcare classes: development of mutual respect in the blended format, developing a common ground for students, and understanding a student's purpose or vested interest in the group and class. Additionally, the study suggested the need for faculty awareness when designing blended learning formats to include methodology that bridges learning content with service aspects which are important in developing healthcare workers. Experienced faculty members/physicians/professional developers feel that with the large of amount of content available online, a sense of entitlement may occur with students who do not feel a need to build the socialization aspect of learning. This may shape long-term development of healthcare workers relative to patient care and overall quality. Implications of the study suggest the need for faculty development and organizational support that focuses on helping experienced healthcare teachers understand the socialization aspects of effective blended learning course design. Faculty working with groups in blended learning need to build confidence and skill levels when deciding the right balance of social interaction and technology use for the particular outcomes they are looking for in their courses.
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    Looking within: a grounded theory study of the internal socialization of recently promoted leaders
    (2013-08) Diehn, Erica Waldera
    This grounded theory study investigates the vastly unexplored context of internal socialization and reveals the transition experience of recently promoted leaders. The research results led to the development of a model of internal socialization, which is presented and discussed. Looking within the individual experience of internal socialization brings deeper insight into the emotional, physical, and cognitive effects of both the challenges and mistakes leaders encounter while providing a better understanding of what and who facilitates learning amidst this critical transition.
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    Newcomer socialization: the roles of social networks
    (2014-07) Choi, Yongjun
    As newcomers transition into new organizational settings, organizational insiders serve as important information and social support resources to help newcomers adapt to their new work environments. In this study, I develop and test a model showing how newcomers develop their communication networks over time, and revealing how this dynamic aspect of the newcomer socialization process may facilitate newcomer adjustment and success in the workplace. I conduct a three-wave longitudinal study within the first 28 weeks of employment and find that institutionalized socialization tactics, task interdependence, and proactive personality partially help newcomers form their communication networks. Second, I find that newcomers' communication networks facilitate newcomer adjustment but only at time 2 (week 16) and time 3 (week 28). Third, findings only marginally support the proposition that newcomers' communication networks mediate the relationships between proactive personality and task mastery. However, newcomers' communication networks did not mediate the relationships between other two socialization factors - institutionalized socialization tactics and task interdependence - and newcomer adjustment. Fourth, findings generally support the proposition that newcomer adjustment predicts intrinsic career success. The post hoc analysis indicates that newcomer adjustment mediates the relationships between socialization factors and career success. Last, findings fail to support the proposition that socialization factors explain how quickly newcomers develop their communication networks. However, the preliminary results show that communication networks develop during the very early entry period.
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    Three Essays on Staffing and the Onboarding Process: The Role of Newcomer Passion and Pre-Hire Experience
    (2024-06) Song, Junseok
    This dissertation contributes to the current selection and socialization research by examining the following topics: 1) how pre-entry and early-stage newcomer factors affect newcomer adjustment behavior and outcomes, 2) how the changes in these factors as time progresses influence newcomer socialization behavior and adjustment outcomes (e.g., organizational citizenship behavior, performance, turnover), and 3) which factors are related to newcomer turnover several months and years after newcomer entry. The three essays of this dissertation achieve these goals by examining how newcomer occupational passion and prior socialization experiences can account for varying patterns of adjustment among newcomers over time. This approach integrates motivational theories (e.g., the dualistic model of passion, self-regulatory model) and cognitive theories (e.g., schema) within a unified framework that links to differential socialization behaviors and outcomes. Occupational passion refers to having a strong inclination or desire toward work-related activities that one finds important and meaningful (Vallerand et al., 2003). It is the level of engagement in work that can contribute to newcomers’ sustained efforts to adapt to and thrive in a new work environment (Vallerand & Houlfort, 2019). Prior socialization experiences influence the formation of newcomers’ schema and scripts by shaping their expectations (e.g., trust toward their supervisors) and their understanding of the new workplace's norms, practices, and culture (Gioia & Poole, 1984).