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- Creators: Department of Marketing
- Creators: Ganesh, Tirupalavanam
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
- Resource Type: Text
Description
In recent years, companies have been expanding their business efforts on a global scale. This project explores this expansion of American-based multinational corporations (MNCs) in Ireland, and the comparison of how their culture motivation in the workplace. We did a cultural study using Hofstede and Trompenaars' cultural dimensions of the two countries then used McClelland's Needs Theory, Equity Theory, and Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory in order to create three research questions. (1) How does the manager define success for the firm as a whole and for their employees, (2) How is the definition of success reflected in the company's corporate culture (i.e. values, norms and practices), along with how cultural values, norms and practices affect the company, and (3) How do external forces (i.e. governmental factors, workplace technology, etc.) affect the workplace environment and motivation for employees? With these we hypothesized that for research question 1, we hypothesized that from our study of Hofstede's and Trompenaars' cultural frameworks, Irish employees will show a greater tendency to favor affiliation, nAff, as opposed to a need for achievement, nAch, in American employees, according to McClelland's Needs Theory. For research question 2, we predicted that motivation would be administered through style of feedback to employees and office norms, such as autonomy, flexible hours, and work-life balance. For research question 3, we hypothesized that Ireland would have an impact from external factors such as government and technology, whereas the U.S. employees would face no clear impact. We conducted eight, qualitative interviews using a questionnaire, either in person or via video conference. The interviewees were all managers in some facet and have all had some international experience. Through the analysis of the interviews, we found that the Irish employees focused on how employees are able to help or contribute to a group (nAff), instead of looking at how the contribution of a group can be used to meet individual goals (nAch). The American companies reflected Trompenaars' definition of individualism in which employees focus on collaborating in teams, as long as individual goals are met, and benchmarked collaboration as a performance measure, tying in the need for achievement, for research question one. For the second research question, we found that employees in Ireland had a focus on teamwork in the workplace and much higher respect for work-life balance. American firms, in contrast, had a greater focus on making sure employees were contributing, meeting their goals, and getting their work done. While American firms did acknowledge work-life balance and its importance, there was a priority for coming in early and/or staying late to make sure a job got done. Findings for our third question showed that government factors did impact Ireland more, due to labor laws such as required vacation days in Ireland, and that technology had less of an impact than expected, for both countries. More importantly was our finding that the companies in Ireland were greatly impacted by the decisions made by the business executives in the United States.
ContributorsSong, Jenny Jungwon (Co-author) / Brown, William (Co-author) / Arrfelt, Mathias (Thesis director) / Moore, James (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Humans have traveled since the dawn of humanity over 200,000 years ago. As time progressed and technology increased, so too did human motivations and drivers for travel. This thesis aims to understand these human motivations and drivers, ultimately answering the question, "Why Travel?" To answer this question, this research starts from the earliest of humans, classifying groups of individuals across time into respective buckets based on a similar motivation. In doing so, four traveler segments were identified: the Survivors, the Inventors, the Adventurers, and the Colonists. Each segment describes an era in time of a specific group of humans, each distinctly aligning with a specific reason for travel. In the early 1800s, the advent of commercial travel altered the future of travel. This began with the invention of the locomotive and was followed by the airplane and automobile. With this onset of commercial travel, transportation arrives to its current state in 2018 with a new type of traveler: the Modern Traveler. This is a turning point in the history of travel, as prior to commercial travel, groups of individuals could be grouped under one specific reason. Post commercial travel, human motivations and drivers become diverse and discrete, with no two individuals sharing the same motivations. To further understand this human desire for travel in a modern sense, a survey was administered to uncover these drivers. The findings revealed one broad reason: humans travel for the experience. With this overarching view of travel, five drivers were also apparent. First, humans travel to visit friends and family. Secondly, family vacations are an important factor in the motivation to travel. Third, humans desire the ability to experience a culture different than their own. Fourth, humans are intrigued by new places and can be motivated to travel by the ability to have new experiences. Fifth and finally, rest and relaxation are a key driver in human travel. With a greater understanding as to "why humans travel," and the drivers behind the "experience" individuals seek through travel, such understandings could be used to segment these individuals into distinct traveler profiles. These segments, the Backpacker, the Solo-Traveler, the Groupie, the Cultural Traveler and the Party Lover, were used to better group motivations for travel. One conclusion can be drawn from this research: travel is diverse and so are travelers. One reason cannot define the motivations of a modern traveler, rather today's traveler is bound by multiple. However, segmenting an individual provides valuable insights into their own diverse traveler persona.
ContributorsCheney, Elizabeth Marie (Author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / Mokwa, Michael (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This research was intended to investigate the effects of various motivational variables on high school students' declaration of a STEM major in college, focusing on PSEM majors. It made use of data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, including the first and second follow-up years (2011 and 2013). The advantage of this study over others is due to this data set, which was designed to be a representative sample of the national population of US high school students. Effects of motivational factors were considered in the context of demographic groups, with the analysis conducted on PSEM declaration illuminating a problem in the discrepancy between male and female high school students. In general, however, PSEM retention from intention to declaration is abysmal, with only 35% of those students who intended towards PSEM actually enrolling.
ContributorsMangu, Daniel Matei (Author) / Middleton, James (Thesis director) / Ganesh, Tirupalavanam (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
The goal of this research study was to empirically study a poster-based messaging campaign in comparison to that of a project-based learning approach in assessing the effectiveness of these methods in conveying the scope of biomedical engineering to upper elementary school students. For the purpose of this honors thesis, this research paper specifically reflects and analyzes the first stage of this study, the poster-based messaging campaign. 6th grade students received socially relevant messaging of juniors and seniors at ASU achieving their biomedical aspirations, and received information regarding four crucial themes of biomedical engineering via daily presentations and a website. Their learning was tracked over the course of the weeklong immersion program through a pre/post assessment. This data was then analyzed through the Wilcoxon matched pairs test to determine whether the change in biomedical engineering awareness was statistically significant. It was determined that a poster-based messaging campaign indeed increased awareness of socially relevant themes within biomedical engineering, and provided researchers with tangible ways to revise the study before a second round of implementation. The next stage of the study aims to explain biomedical engineering through engaging activities that stimulate making while emphasizing design-aesthetic appeal and engineering habits of mind such as creativity, teamwork, and communication.
ContributorsSwaminathan, Swetha Anu (Author) / Ganesh, Tirupalavanam (Thesis director) / Shrake, Scott (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05