An Exploration Of Students? Perceptions Of Strategic Management Model Usefulness

This exploratory study proposes and tests a model depicting individual undergraduate student characteristics and their association with perceived strategic management model (SMM) usefulness. The constructs explored are: student’s decision style; experience; major; affectivity; willingness to try new models; and the perceived ease of use of the SMM. Findings based on structural equation modeling and partial least squares regression indicate that positive affect, perceived ease of use, and willingness to try new models/theories explain a significant amount of variance in the students’ perceived usefulness of the SMM. The study then discusses potential applications of its findings to individual classrooms, management practice, and business education as a whole. Finally, it provides suggestions for future research

Secondhand Goods, Firsthand Knowledge: An Organizational Structure Exercise At The Local Flea Market

We developed a unique and enjoyable field trip exercise to challenge students to identify various organizational structures and their properties and dimensions present in the local flea market. Drawing on students’ review of common organizational structures, i.e., simple, functional, multi-divisional, and network, this exercise requires that individuals or small groups of students visit a local flea market to observe and analyze the numerous organizational structures apparent. Students then use a given report format to identify: the properties of organizations; distinct organizational structures on varying levels of analysis (the market as a whole, areas of specialization, and vendors); and the dimensions seen in organizations (specialization, span of control, formalization, and centralization). In-class discussion of the topic, using discussion questions provided, further clarifies the concepts that students viewed in practice at the flea market

Why be first if it doesn’t pay? The case of early adopters of C-TPAT supply chain security certification

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on adoption of certified management standards, specifically public standards. Such standards play an increasingly important role in today’s business environment. However, to generate adoption benefits, they must be first widely accepted – a situation where they have become viewed as the de facto norms. For this state to occur early adopters play a critical role. Past research has argued that early adopters, in exchange for assuming more risk, are rewarded with higher economic returns. Yet, these findings are based on private, not public standards. With public standards, early adopters do not receive such benefits. There is evidence that public standards are becoming more important. This situation leads to a simple but important question addressed in this study – if early adopters assume the risks of embracing a new public standard without economic benefits, then what is their motivation? To resolve this question, this study draws on agency theory and prospect theory. The authors argue that early adopters embrace such standards because of their desire to minimize risk resulting from failure to support the goal at the heart of the public standards. Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained from the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) Partners Cost Benefit Survey and analyzed through structural equation modeling. Findings Early adopters of public standards are not driven by economic benefits but rather by the need to minimize their exposure to the risks associated with failing to satisfy the goals associated with a public standard. In other words, they were motivated by the need to minimize costs. In the case of C-TPAT, these costs are those of failing to provide or improve network security. Research limitations/implications This study has shed new light on the standards adoption process by clarifying the specific motivations that drive early adoption of a public standard. In addition to identifying the loss aversion motives of early adopters and economic benefit motives of later adopters, the authors have also elaborated on the notion that standards have differing levels of precedence, particularly when comparing private with public standards. Practical implications In a world characterized by increasing demands for outcomes such as improved security and where governmental funding is falling, due to growing deficits and governments that are becoming more conservative, the authors expect the use of public standards to increase. Originality/value Different from prior research on private standard, the paper focuses on the organizations involved in the adoption and diffusion of a public standard, with special attention being devoted to the early adopters. The paper provides a theoretical explanation for the actions of early adopters of a public standard through the theoretical lens of prospect theory

United States Senate Catalogue of Graphic Art

This volume is the first comprehensive publication of the almost one thousand prints in the holdings of the United States Senate. The collection represents a 30-year effort to document graphically the 19th and early 20th century history of the Senate, the Capitol, and American political history. The diverse illustrations range from inauguration ceremonies and impeachment trials to senatorial portraits and political cartoons. Represented in the Senate\u27s graphic art collection are some of the most notable artists who worked in the printmaking medium: Augustus Kallner, Rembrandt Peale, Alexander Hay Ritchie, Thomas Nast, and Joseph Keppler. While visually engaging, these prints also are important primary historical records. By carefully scrutinizing a print, in the same way a historian might analyze a journal or diary, one can extract the meaning of the artist and decode the historical subtext. Often, the elements omitted by the artist in an image are just as important as those that are included. As a research tool, the graphic art collection has been invaluable to historians and scholars for many years. This publication seeks to broaden the appeal of the collection by making the information available to a wider audience. Essays by Senate Curator Diane K. Skvarla and Associate Senate Historian Donald A. Ritchie provide an overview of the collection, with selected prints highlighted throughout the book. This is the second volume dedicated to the Senate\u27s art and historic collections. In 2002 the Senate published the United States Senate Catalogue of Fine Art, presenting the 160 paintings and sculptures in the Senate\u27s fine art collection

Promoting Positive Youth Development: Relational Data Analysis (RDA)

This article provides an overview of the origins and use of relational data analysis (RDA). RDA is a multidimensional, multiphasic framework for unifying data analytic strategies across dimensions (quantitative/qualitative, causal/structural, observation/interpretation, etc.) and phases of analyses (conceptual, theoretical, and research analyses). RDA was developed within a relational metatheoretical methodological framework for overcoming the splits that have historically characterized methodological metatheory. The aim was to formulate a practical, ready-at-hand framework that the developmental scientist could use to unify the analysis of developmental change in real life “applied” settings as well as clinic and laboratory settings

Ariel - Volume 8 Number 2

Executive Editor James W. Lockard , Jr. Issue Editor Doug Hiller Business Manager Neeraj K. Kanwal University News Richard J. Perry World News Doug Hiller Opinions Elizabeth A. McGuire Features Patrick P. Sokas Sports Desk Shahab S. Minassian Managing Editor Edward H. Jasper Managing Associate Brenda Peterson Photography Editor Robert D. Lehman, Jr. Graphics Christine M. Kuhnl

A Large, First-Year, Introductory, Multi-Sectional Biological Concepts of Health Course Designed to Develop Skills and Enhance Deeper Learning

Large first-year biology classes, with their heavy emphasis on factual content, contribute to low student engagement and misrepresent the dynamic, interdisciplinary nature of biological science. We sought to redesign a course to deliver fundamental biology curriculum through the study of health, promote skills development, and encourage a deeper level of learning for a large, multi-section first-year class. We describe the Biological Concepts of Health course designed to encourage higher-order learning and teach oral communication and independent learning skills to large numbers of first-year students. We used the Blooming Biology Tool to determine the cognitive skills level assessed in the newly developed course and the courses it replaced. This evidence-based approach demonstrated that our new course design achieved the goal of encouraging a deeper level of cognition, and further, successfully introduced both oral communication and independent learning skills in large first-year classes.  En mettant l’emphase sur un contenu factuel, les grandes classes de biologie de première année contribuent au faible engagement des élèves et donnent une représentation imprécise de la nature dynamique et interdisciplinaire des sciences de la biologie. Afin d’offrir un programme fondamental en biologie par l’étude de la santé, de promouvoir le perfectionnement des compétences et d’encourager un niveau d’apprentissage marqué, nous avons repensé un cours pour une grande classe de première année contenant plusieurs sous-groupes. Nous décrivons le cours « Biological Concepts of Health » conçu pour encourager l’apprentissage supérieur, ainsi que pour enseigner la communication orale et les habiletés d’apprentissage individualisé à un grand nombre d’étudiants de première année. Pour déterminer le niveau d’habiletés cognitives évalué dans ce cours nouvellement conçu et les cours qu’il remplace, nous avons utilisé le « Blooming Biology Tool ». Cette approche éprouvée démontre que ce nouveau cours a atteint son but d’encourager l’approfondissement des connaissances et, par ailleurs, a réussi à introduire la communication orale, de même que les habiletés d’apprentissage individualisé aux grandes classes de première année

Promoting Positive Identity Development in Troubled Youth: A Developmental Intervention Science Outreach Research Approach

This article illustrates how developmental intervention science outreach research contributes to knowledge development on the promotion of positive identity development by describing results from the Miami Youth Development Project. The project is committed to the use of descriptive and explanatory knowledge about evidence-based individual and institutional intervention strategies for promoting developmental change in self and identity. Our efforts, described here, include a method for measuring theoretically and personally meaningful identity change, a procedure for integrating key aspects of qualitative and quantitative data through relational data analysis, and an evidence-based positive youth development intervention that fosters measurable and meaningful identity change