Matching Items (5)
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- Creators: Department of Finance
- Status: Published
Description
In today's era a lot of the construction projects suffer from time delay, cost overrun and quality defect. Incentive provisions are found to be a contracting strategy to address this potential problem. During last decade incentive mechanisms have gained importance, and they are starting to become adopted in the construction projects. Most of the previous research done in this area was purely qualitative, with a few quantitative studies. This study aims to quantify the performance of incentives in construction by collecting the data from more than 30 projects in United States through a questionnaire survey. First, literature review addresses the previous research work related to incentive types, incentives in construction industry, incentives in other industry and benefits of incentives. Second, the collected data is analyzed with statistical methods to test the significance of observed changes between two data sets i.e. incentive projects and non-incentive projects. Finally, the analysis results provide evidence for the significant impact of having incentives; reduced the cost and schedule growth in construction projects in United States.
ContributorsPaladugu, Bala Sai Krishna (Author) / El Asmar, Mounir (Thesis advisor) / Ernzen, James (Committee member) / Sullivan, Kenneth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Abstract The United States continues to face problems in the workplace in regards to happiness, satisfaction, and engagement. In comparison, Denmark consistently ranks as one of the happiest countries in the world. This paper serves to describe the norms and cultural aspects that may explain why each country has its respective outcomes in regards to the employee experience. The paper concludes with possible recommendations that organizations can adopt to help improve the employee experience in the United States.
ContributorsFisher, Makenna Leigh (Author) / Moore, James (Thesis director) / LePore, Paul (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Gamification is the idea of “gamifying” work, to make it more intrinsically motivating. This is an incredibly important aspect of management theory because it gives a different approach to the age old question, how do I motivate my employees to perform better? This study not only looks at gamification, what it is, and how it is used successfully and unsuccessfully; but also looks at gamification from a different light. This study dives into the idea of employee gamification, or when employees “gamify” their own work to keep themselves motivated, without the direction or guidance of a manager. Most importantly, this study looks at the correlation between gamification, likeness of manager, enthusiasm, physical engagement, and a few other variables to figure out what truly is the driving force behind employee motivation. Without the study and proper application of gamification, both managers and employees could be missing out on the potential to increase motivation dramatically, thus in turn creating a more efficient and productive work environment. At the end of the day, every single company is concerned with efficiency; and increasing it should be of the highest concern. This study looks at the potential benefits of gamifying work, while also figuring out what truly is the driving force behind workplace motivation.
ContributorsRosen, Joshua Harry (Author) / Baer, Michael (Thesis director) / Welsh, David (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The purpose of this research is to define significant explanatory factors behind differences in work preferences across country of origin, gender, and generation. We conducted a survey through Qualtrics, which consisted of 45 questions. The survey was administered to men and women who were U.S. citizens and non-US citizens and who were from two pre-defined generational groups: Generation X and Generation Z. Furthermore, the questions were intended to determine different work preferences in Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions (Power Distance, Masculinity/Femininity, Individualism/Collectivism, Uncertainty Avoidance), McClelland's Motivational Theory, Alpha/Beta Work Values, and Leadership Traits from the GLOBE study. We also had the opportunity to travel to Tokyo, Japan in December 2016 to gather qualitative research data regarding individuals' opinions and experiences in cultural and gender differences in the workplace. We were able to support hypotheses regarding Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions, Alpha and Beta Values, and Leadership Traits specifically across our gender and generational cohorts. Findings from the study indicate significant variations between all three cohorts. Our literature and hypotheses review, methodology, limitations, practical implications in addition to future research to expand our study will be discussed within this text. We hope to provide context and insight into how businesses of the twenty-first century can be inclusive, fair, and profitable amidst a changing workforce and a host of global factors that are constantly refining the multinational company.
ContributorsJirak, Matthew (Co-author) / Vogliotti-Simental, Hector (Co-author) / LePine, Marcie (Thesis director) / Lee, Peggy (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
This thesis provides an analysis of successful socially responsible management practices and company cultures to identify the required elements for proper cost internalization of manufacturing and service industries, as well as a more even wealth distribution throughout society for better consumption and sustainable long-term profits. For the purpose of this analysis, I have researched various companies that actively engage in the aforementioned features. The goal is to identify first steps necessary to transition corporate and private entities to a system where purchase power supersedes nominal currency numbers, such as being able to afford more for the same amount of USD than earning higher sums of USD to pay for the same product or service, thus ultimately creating stronger and more stable economies and currencies. To build such a framework, I have used various interdisciplinary concepts to present a solution for a more equitable system of accounting for value generation, and thus a system that aims at evening the wealth gap between populations.
By working on this thesis, I was able to identify causes that lead to inequality due to how manufacturing and service systems might account for costs, as well as solutions and concepts that can help pave the way for a more egalitarian society. Furthermore, through this study I have also discovered actors, namely benefit corporations, that actively partake in various actions to benefit not only their customers, but society as a whole. The causes, measurements, documents, and principles I looked at were company financial statements whenever available, various socially responsible management literature, accounting principles, research literature on the inequality of cost externalization, etc. These resources established that a proper plan to tackling the unsustainable business and financial practices of many corporate and private entities today involves a consumer-oriented vision that follows the triple bottom line, a mission that closely follow a vision, core company values that emphasize the need to serve society, and a plan to closely and efficiently follow through with said vision. Problems such as over reliance on limited resources and externalizing environmental costs due to intrinsically uncompetitive business models could be potentially mitigated with proper restructuring of business models. The triple bottom line is an accounting framework that incorporates the integral segments of social, environmental, and financial dimensions of performance. Lastly, it is worthwhile to mention that companies which successfully worked under this mantra and plan tend to be sustainable over longer periods of time and be more innovative than competitors, which ultimately lead to higher levels of goodwill and loyalty from their customers.
By working on this thesis, I was able to identify causes that lead to inequality due to how manufacturing and service systems might account for costs, as well as solutions and concepts that can help pave the way for a more egalitarian society. Furthermore, through this study I have also discovered actors, namely benefit corporations, that actively partake in various actions to benefit not only their customers, but society as a whole. The causes, measurements, documents, and principles I looked at were company financial statements whenever available, various socially responsible management literature, accounting principles, research literature on the inequality of cost externalization, etc. These resources established that a proper plan to tackling the unsustainable business and financial practices of many corporate and private entities today involves a consumer-oriented vision that follows the triple bottom line, a mission that closely follow a vision, core company values that emphasize the need to serve society, and a plan to closely and efficiently follow through with said vision. Problems such as over reliance on limited resources and externalizing environmental costs due to intrinsically uncompetitive business models could be potentially mitigated with proper restructuring of business models. The triple bottom line is an accounting framework that incorporates the integral segments of social, environmental, and financial dimensions of performance. Lastly, it is worthwhile to mention that companies which successfully worked under this mantra and plan tend to be sustainable over longer periods of time and be more innovative than competitors, which ultimately lead to higher levels of goodwill and loyalty from their customers.
ContributorsCinculescu, Andrei Stefan (Author) / Sadusky, Brian (Thesis director) / Hoffman, David (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05