Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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- Creators: Kashiwagi, Dean
Description
ABSTRACT Facility managers have an important job in today's competitive business world by caring for the backbone of the corporation's capital. Maintaining assets and the support efforts cause facility managers to fight an uphill battle to prove the worth of their organizations. This thesis will discuss the important and flexible use of measurement and leadership reports and the benefits of justifying the work required to maintain or upgrade a facility. The task is streamlined by invoking accountability to subject experts. The facility manager must trust in the ability of his or her work force to get the job done. However, with accountability comes increased risk. Even though accountability may not alleviate total control or cease reactionary actions, facility managers can develop key leadership based reports to reassign accountability and measure subject matter experts while simultaneously reducing reactionary actions leading to increased cost. Identifying and reassigning risk that are not controlled to subject matter experts is imperative for effective facility management leadership and allows facility managers to create an accurate and solid facility management plan, supports the organization's succession plan, and allows the organization to focus on key competencies.
ContributorsTellefsen, Thor (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Thesis advisor) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
As global competition continues to grow more disruptive, organizational change is an ever-present reality that affects companies in all industries at both the operational and strategic level. Organizational change capabilities have become a necessary aspect of existence for organizations in all industries worldwide. Research suggests that more than half of all organizational change efforts fail to achieve their original intended results, with some studies quoting failure rates as high as 70 percent. Exasperating this problem is the fact that no single change methodology has been universally accepted. This thesis examines two aspect of organizational change: the implementation of tactical and strategic initiatives, primarily focusing on successful tactical implementation techniques. This research proposed that tactical issues typically dominate the focus of change agents and recipients alike, often to the detriment of strategic level initiatives that are vital to the overall value and success of the organizational change effort. The Delphi method was employed to develop a tool to facilitate the initial implementation of organizational change such that tactical barriers were minimized and available resources for strategic initiatives were maximized. Feedback from two expert groups of change agents and change facilitators was solicited to develop the tool and evaluate its impact. Preliminary pilot testing of the tool confirmed the proposal and successfully served to minimize tactical barriers to organizational change.
ContributorsLines, Brian (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth T. (Thesis advisor) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Recent studies have identified that contractors in the Saudi construction industry are not the main party that cause risks as owners and other parties have the major share of causing risks. However, with the identification that risks out of contractors’ control are a leading cause of low performance, there is a lack of efficient risk mitigation practices in Saudi to manage these risks. The main aim of this dissertation is to assess the current practices applied by contractors to minimize risk out of their control and develop a risk mitigation model to manage these risks. The main objectives of the study are: investigating the risks that are out of contractors’ control, assessing the contractors’ current risk mitigation and performance measurement practices, and finally developing and validating a risk mitigation model to minimize risks out of contractors’ control and measure performance of involved project parties. To achieve the study aim, a mixed methodological approach was adopted. Theoretical approaches were utilized to review previous research and to develop a conceptual risk mitigation framework followed by a practical approach that is considered with collecting data from contractors. The quantitative method was mainly used to meet the study objectives through distributing a survey in the form of a questionnaire. As a consolidation of the study findings, the top ranked risks that are out of contractors’ control were identified. Furthermore, the results identified that the contractors’ current risk management and performance measurement practices are not effective in minimizing projects risks caused by other parties and ineffective in measuring performance of all parties. The developed model focuses on increasing accountability of project parties through mitigating project parties’ activities and risks with measuring the deviations and identifying sources of deviations. Transparency is utilized in the model through sharing weekly updates of the activities and risks combined with updated information of performance measurements of all project parties. The study results showed that project risks can be minimized and projects’ performance can be increased if contractors shift their focus using the developed model from only managing their own activities and risks to managing all project parties’ activities and risks.
ContributorsAlgahtany, Mohammed (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Thesis advisor) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Committee member) / Badger, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Standardized testing plays a pivotal role in education. The results of standardized testing are used as performance metrics for students, teachers, and schools. The goal in education is to use performance metrics that are as accurate as possible. There are numerous measurement methods, but a popular choice is Student Growth Percentiles. This study will provide an analysis of Student Growth Percentiles in the Chandler Unified School District, located in Arizona. This study will use the Chandler Unified School District data to calculate standard error measurements and create Student Growth Percentile confidence intervals.
ContributorsSmith, Jacob (Author) / Boggess, May (Committee member) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Committee member) / Matthew, Strom (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
In the words of W. Edwards Deming, "the central problem in management and in leadership is failure to understand the information in variation." While many quality management programs propose the institution of technical training in advanced statistical methods, this paper proposes that by understanding the fundamental information behind statistical theory, and by minimizing bias and variance while fully utilizing the available information about the system at hand, one can make valuable, accurate predictions about the future. Combining this knowledge with the work of quality gurus W. E. Deming, Eliyahu Goldratt, and Dean Kashiwagi, a framework for making valuable predictions for continuous improvement is made. After this information is synthesized, it is concluded that the best way to make accurate, informative predictions about the future is to "balance the present and future," seeing the future through the lens of the present and thus minimizing bias, variance, and risk.
ContributorsSynodis, Nicholas Dahn (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director, Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
In this paper, the impact of running a Best Value system in a student-run/volunteer group is measured, documented, and analyzed. The group being used for this test is the Arizona State University Society of Automotive Engineers Formula Team. The Arizona State University Society of Automotive Engineers Formula Team has participated in national Formula SAE competitions since at least 1992, however, in the last twenty years, the team has only been able to produce one car that was able to finish the competition on time. In a similar time period, Best Value has been successfully tested on over 1860 professional projects with a 95% satisfaction rating. Using the Best Value approach to increase transparency and accountability through simple metrics and documentation, the 2016 Arizona State University Society of Automotive Engineers Formula Team was able to complete their car in 278 days. In comparison, it took 319 days for the 2015 team and 286 for the average collegiate team. This is an improvement of 13% when compared to the 2015 team and 3% when compared to the average collegiate team. With these results it can be deduced that the Best Value approach is a viable method for improving efficiency of student-run and volunteer organizations. It is the recommendation of this report that the Arizona State University Society of Automotive Engineers Formula Team continue to utilize Best Value practices and run this system again each year moving forward. This consistent documentation should result in continuous improvement in the time required to complete the car as well as its quality.
ContributorsWojtas, Thomas Samuel (Author) / Trimble, Steven (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Committee member) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This thesis presents a literature research analyzing the cost overrun of the construction industry worldwide, exploring documented causes for cost overrun, and documented parties responsible for the inefficiency. The analysis looks at a comparison between the metrics of construction projects in different continents and regions. Multiple publication databases were used to look into over 300 papers. It is shown that although construction demands are increasing, cost overrun on these projects is not decreasing at the same rate around the world. This thesis also presents a possible solution to improve cost overrun in the construction industry, through the use of the Best Value Performance Information Procurement System (BV PIPS). This is a system that has been utilized in various countries around the world, and has documented evidence that it may be able to alleviate the overrun occurring in the construction industry.
ContributorsGoyal, Abhinav (Author) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Thesis advisor) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Committee member) / Chong, Oswald (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
In an increasingly global economy, companies face challenges with implementing successful business and marketing strategies in cultures different from their own. This paper calls upon previous research to compile a per-country outline of general behaviors and expectations when doing business overseas. Using categorical definitions from Hofstede's 1984 study and those found in the Handbook of Global and Multicultural Negotiation, a table has been prepared to group similar countries based on their cultural biases.
ContributorsPetruccelli, Lauren Taylor (Author) / Shunk, Dan (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Committee member) / McCarville, Daniel R. (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
This study analyzes the impact of incentive programs on performance. Agency theory and Information Measurement theory are used to hypothesize about the impact of incentives upon performance. Empirical evidence from the case study shows that incentives are ineffective at increasing performance, but the statistical significance of the data is too low to generalize the findings beyond that of short term cold call sales. Several avenues for continued research are suggested.
ContributorsCarlson, Andrew Wayne (Author) / Lee, Peggy (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Committee member) / Totscheck, Chaz (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Management (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
The workforce demographics are changing as a large portion of the population is approaching retirement and thus leaving vacancies in the construction industry. Succession planning is an aspect of talent management which aims to mitigate instability faced by a company when a new successor fills a vacancy. Research shows that in addition to a diminishing pool of available talent, the industry does not have widespread, empirically tested and implemented models that lead to effective successions. The objective of this research was to create a baseline profile for succession planning in the construction industry by identifying currently implemented best practices. The author interviewed six companies of varying sizes and demographics within the construction industry and compared their succession planning methodologies to identify any common challenges and practices. Little consensus between the companies was found. The results of the interviews were then compared to current research literature, but even here, little consensus was found. In addition, companies lacked quantitative performance metrics demonstrating the effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, of their current succession planning methodologies. The authors recommended that additional research is carried out to focus on empirical evidence and measurement of industry practices surrounding talent identification, development, and transition leading to succession.
ContributorsGunnoe, Jake A (Author) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Thesis advisor) / Wiezel, Avi (Committee member) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015