Organizational effectiveness

This dissertation investigates and further develops organization health theory in the context of public organizations. This is an important line of inquiry for two reasons. First, the healthy organizations literature and healthy organization theory is inchoate and lacks overall coherence (Dejoy et al., 2010), especially in public organization theory and research. As such many organization theorists have called for expansive solutions and insist this requires consideration of the collective and systemic interactive levels of analysis (Salanova et al., 2012; Schein, 2006). Second, we notice organizations now devoting considerable resources to nurturing individual and organizational health and wellness (Dale & Burrell, 2014; Parks & Steelman, 2008). Ostensibly, this is because health has been demonstrated to enhance or compromise a myriad of organizational outcomes including satisfaction, performance, sustainability, and survival (Pfeffer, 2010; Cooper, 1994). Moreover, organizational health and individual health share a vicarious and interdependent relationship (McHugh & Brotherton, 2000). In response to this “healthy exigency” and in effort to enhance the health of our public organizations, this dissertation employs an interdisciplinary lens to investigate healthy organizations at the systemic interactive level of analysis. The overarching purpose of the study is to provide theoretical contributions and empirical evidence concerning the key factors necessary for the development of healthy public organizations. To accomplish this, I assemble a holistic organizational wellness (HOW) theoretical framework. The HOW framework supports development of a Wellness Quotient (WQ) with data from the 2017 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS). The WQ represents the dissertations main contribution, as currently no standardized measure of public organization health (or wellness) exists. Through a process of discovery and analysis which includes multiple iterations of confirmatory factor analyses and a regression analysis, it is found that the WQ has a significant impact on organization performance and satisfaction. The results also confirm this studies hypotheses the WQ may be useful as a proxy for future healthy public organizations research. In sum, the HOW framework and WQ not only contribute to theoretical and empirical development of healthy public organizations, respectively, but they both may serve as useful tools for public organizational health design and development.

Levels of self-directed learning readiness, strategic thinking and leader
effectiveness in nonprofit directors were obtained from a sample of YMCA
directors who responded to an online survey. The resulting data were analyzed
to determine if correlations between the measures were observed and if the
relationships were moderated by employment, geographic or demographic
variables.
Self-directed learning readiness and strategic thinking were highly
correlated. Analysis of the questionnaires from 471 respondents demonstrated
that the correlations between self-directed learning readiness and strategic
thinking were robust (r = .58, p < .001 ). Leader effectiveness was found to
correlate with these two constructs at identical and significant levels (r = .1 0,
p < .05). These correlations present evidence of positive relationships between self-directed learning levels, strategic thinking levels and leader effectiveness.
Correlations were also found for self-directed learning readiness and each
of the three subscales of strategic thinking, reframing, reflecting and systems
thinking, and the leader effectiveness measure; and for the reframing subscale of
strategic thinking with leader effectiveness. Responses to open-ended questions
reflected the use of self-directed learning strategies and strategic thinking by the
sample in preparing for challenges in education and leadership.
Correlations between strategic thinking and leader effectiveness were
moderated by ethnicity. Levels of correlation between self-directed learning
readiness and strategic thinking were moderated by the variables of years of
AYP membership and number of branches supervised, the level of performance
rating desired, and years of similar employment.
The YMCA directors in this study were determined to be effective leaders
who used strategic thinking and self-directed learning strategies to meet the
demands of their leadership roles.
The results indicate that individuals who exhibit self-directed learning
tendencies can be expected to use strategic thinking strategies; that those who
are strategic thinkers reflect self-directed learning behavior; and that leader
effectiveness is supported by the possession of strategic thinking and selfdirected
learning skills.

Addressing the current homeland security challenges requires scholars,
practitioners, elected officials, and community partners working in unison to mitigate the
hazards confronting first responders. Built on public choice theory, this research
addressed a specific component of the emergency preparedness matrix: the most
preferred fire service organizational design. The fire department organizational designs in
this study included a Florida county, city, and independent special control fire district
(ISFCD) that serve residents on a full-time platform. The concurrent embedded
methodology used attempted to unearth which organizational design achieves economies
of scale based on quarterly emergency service calls: the centralized county model or the
decentralized city/ISFCD models. This study was an inquiry into the centralization versus
decentralization argument, with emphases on fire service scale economies and inter-local
service agreements Using multiple linear regression modeling accompanied by face-to-face
interviews with the respective fire chiefs, this research showed that the county and
ISFCD achieve scale economies over 44 quarters, fiscal years 2004-2014. Moreover, the
interviews uncovered that response times were the driving factor behind instituting
voluntary inter-local service agreements between the three fire departments. Other
positive benefits from the service agreements include an increase in personnel and scene
safety, dispatch center protocol enhancements, multi-company/jurisdictional training,
overtime savings on large-scale disaster incidents, and trust building.
The implications of this research for the scholarly and practitioner community
include a better understanding of the technical and allocative efficiencies within the fire
service arena. Melding public choice theory with strands of inter-local service agreement
literature provides policymakers and scholars with a template for uncovering the fire
service production/provision narrative. Though the centralization-decentralization
argument is not solved within the research scope presented, the future narrative as
uncovered in the research requires a citizenry inclusion. The future public choice
prescriptions regarding fire service consolidation requires not only statistical modeling,
but a normative democratic ethos tone incorporating multiple stakeholders with the
citizens’ concerns at the forefront.

Mission statements are an important part of the strategic planning process. In the
federal government they are required for cabinet departments. Research about publicsector
mission statements has been limited, compared to research on private-sector
mission statements. Mission statements are important as artifacts of organizational
culture. They introduce and reinforce important organizational values and can be part of
a system of control. Within organizational culture and as part of a system of control,
mission statements may play a role in creating and maintaining certain power
relationships.
In this research I examine manifestations of organizational culture and power in
cabinet-level federal agencies as expressed in the content and rhetoric of their mission
statements. The research presented here examines the mission statements of federal departments and their affiliated agencies and offices. It seeks to identify the importance
of mission statements outside of their role in the strategic planning process. The
methodology used is Ethnographic Content Analysis (ECA). ECA allows for numerical
and descriptive data. Numerically, the researcher creates and counts occurrences of
relevant categories of analysis and then uses examples as descriptors.
This dissertation describes the content of mission statements and compares it to
features other researchers have identified as important for mission statements. In general,
the federal mission statements studied here do not include many of the elements that
previous research has identified as important for mission statements.
Second, the research examines the presence in mission statements of values in
general and, in particular, two specific groups of values: New Public Management and
Democratic Constitutional values. Both types of values are found in federal mission
statements, and the research shows that authors of mission statements are making a
choice between the New Public and Democratic Constitutional sets of values.
Next, this research looks for evidence of statements of power that are included
within the mission statements. Borrowing French and Raven's five bases of interpersonal
power for its rubric, this research finds evidence of all five bases of power in these
organizational mission statements.
Finally, this research looks for the intended audiences of the mission statements
and finds that it is often unclear.

This study provides an exploratory investigation of the link between Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) and Firm Competitive Advantage. It poses two primary
research questions (1) What valuable and rare resource does the firm acquire through
CSR? and 2) How does the firm's approach to stakeholder management influence its
ability to protect and enhance the value of this resource? Corporate Social Reputation,
the perception of the firm by its internal and external stakeholders, is argued to be the
valuable and rare resource that CSR provides. By building positive stakeholder
relationships through CSR the firm is able to positively influence stakeholder assessment
and gain 'reputational capital'. The value of reputational capital lies in its ability to
promote operational efficiency and engender product differentiation, which independently as well as in tandem, grant firms superior performance over their
competitors.
Corporate Social Reputation is also expected to be positively influenced by the finn's
adoption of a 'network' approach to stakeholder management. Two specific network
attributes: extensiveness and consistency are argued to promote reputational capital
growth. Network Extensiveness is determined by the number and diversity of firmstakeholder
relationships, whereas Network Consistency is concerned with the variability
of firm behavior across its entire stakeholder network.
The hypothesized model was evaluated via a longitudinal study of one hundred
and fifty eight firms from multiple industries. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was
employed to assess path coefficients as well as the goodness of fit of the measurement
and structural models.
The results provide support for the positive influence of CSR on Corporate Social
Reputation, but no support for a significant relation between either Network
Extensiveness or Network Consistency and Corporate Social Reputation. Also, the results
indicate that Corporate Social Reputation directly, positively and significantly contributes
to a firm's ability to achieve and sustain a Competitive Advantage for both an internal
(Return on Assets) and external (Tobin's q) measure of firm financial performance.
Further, the findings suggest that the contribution of CSR to financial performance may
be indirect and facilitated through a step-wise process which requires the attainment of a
positive and superior Corporate Social Reputation before Competitive Advantage can be
achieved.

As the gap between the haves and have-nots widens, the call for reform in higher education in the United States intensifies. Policy actors, philanthropists, and academics from across the political spectrum work on various policy solutions, creating a policy environment that is complex and often contentious. Incrementalists claim that major policy reform is unlikely since unknown variables and inexplicable events can stall or dismantle policy initiatives. In such environments, policy entrepreneurs—those individuals who advocate for policy innovation, work for change, and help shape policy solutions from within and without government—try to break through the barriers of incremental politics. As important as this role is to the influencing and structuring of higher educational policy, it has not yet been explored. This study fills this gap in the extant literature by cataloging the characteristics and skills that enable higher education policy entrepreneurs at the state and national levels to persevere and accomplish sustainable and innovative higher education reforms over time.

Poorly integrated crime analysis may be a detriment to crime reduction efforts and financial resources. The purpose of this research is to identify deficiencies and successes in crime analysis integration and to understand which agency factors are related. Using the Stratified Model of Problem Solving, Analysis, and Accountability and data from a national PERF survey of police agencies, this study quantifies the levels of production and consumption-based integration disconnect as well as other important agency factors. To determine which agency factors contribute most to integration disconnect, bivariate correlation and multiple regression analyses are used to examine the relationships, while controlling for agency type, centralization, officers per analyst, crimes per officer, and agency size. Findings indicate that production- and consumption-based disconnect are positively related to one another and that passive patrol-analyst interactions, an agency’s analysis integration disconnect.

This research study seeks to link empirically organizational commitment, trust and participatory decision making (PDM) practices and test their interrelationships. The research uses the Meyer & Allen (1984) Affective Commitment and Continuance Commitment Scale (ACCS) to measure organizational commitment and develops new scales to measure trust and PDM practices. The study hypothesizes multidimensional components for organizational commitment and trust; statistically significant associations among organizational commitment, trust and PDM practices; and trust as a preceding and intervening variable between PDM practices and organizational commitment. The research uses Pearson correlations, exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses. The research results support the multidimensionality of organizational commitment and trust; interrelationships among organizational commitment, trust and PDM practices; and the temporal role of trust. However, the research results do not support trust as an intervening variable between PDM practices and organizational commitment. The study concludes with opportunities for future research.

The politics-administration dichotomy has been one of the most disputed theories of public administration. Despite serious challenges and critics, neither the theoretical utility nor the normative power of the dichotomy has totally disappeared over the decades. The dichotomy has been advocated on the grounds that the dichotomous division of labor and authority between elected leadership and administrative leadership is prerequisite for autonomous (and effective) public administration. This dissertation (1) conceptualizes the politics-administration dichotomy, (2) specifies a theoretical model, and (3) tests and evaluates the theoretical model with empirical data collected from a nationwide sample of city managers serving in council-manager local governments. Results of structural equation modeling demonstrate that the internal theoretical logic of the politics-administration dichotomy could not be confirmed with empirical data. The dissertation then discusses implications of the findings for the field of public administration.

This dissertation examines the stock market reaction to 474 announcements of hiring chief information officers (CIOs) in the 1987--2002 period, and firm performance for periods up to two years following the CIO appointment. The study reports that the announcements are associated with significantly positive abnormal returns (0.48 percent). The returns are more pronounced when the new CIO is hired from an IT leader firm (1.94 percent). Abnormal returns are significantly positive related with the CIO's level of education and high-technology firms, and negatively related with firm size. In addition, there is no significant difference in market reaction between the announcements that publicize the creation of a new position and those that imply the filling of an existing position with new hires. Further, the study finds an association between the appointment of the new CIO and subsequent improvement in the accounting measures of profitability. Findings reveal that CIO firms outperform their matched firms and their industry counterparts for the two years following the announcements relative to the year prior to the CIO appointment.