Matching Items (25)
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
E-commerce has rapidly become a mainstay in today's economy, and many websites have built themselves around providing a platform for independent sellers. Sites such as Etsy, Storenvy, Redbubble, and Society6 are increasingly popular options for anyone looking to open their own online store. With this project, I attempted to examine the effects of four different marketing techniques on sales in an online store. I opened a shop on Etsy and tracked sales in connection with promotion through social media, selling products in-person at a convention, holding a holiday tie-in sale, and using price anchoring. Social media accounts were opened on Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram to promote the shop over the course of the project period, and Etsy's web analytics were used to track which sites directed the most traffic to the shop. I attended a convention in mid-January 2016 where I sold my products and distributed business cards with a discount code to track sales resulting from being at the convention. A holiday sale was held in conjunction with Valentine's Day to look at whether holidays influenced purchases. Lastly, a significantly more expensive product was temporarily put in the shop to see whether it produced a price anchoring effect \u2014 that is, encouraged sales of the less expensive products by making them seem affordable in comparison. While the volume of sales data was too small to draw statistically significant conclusions, the project was a highly instructive experience in the process of opening a small online store. The decision-making steps outlined may be helpful to other students looking to open their own online shop.
ContributorsChen, Candice Elizabeth (Author) / Moore, James (Thesis director) / Sanford, Adriana (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Once enrolled in a university setting, a student's learning style begins to emerge. As time progress, students begin their search for career prospects and as an extension, the workplace culture as well. After immersing themselves into a company's environment, students may realize their learning styles may or may not are in conflict in their line of work. As a result, this research will explore the relationship between learning styles and majors. With a sample size of 552 students enrolled at W. P. Carey School of Business within Arizona State University, learning style preferences will be calculated for each business major; other influences, such as ethnicity and age, will also be taken into consideration.
ContributorsOsofsky, Michelle (Co-author) / Nguyen, Christine (Co-author) / Moore, James (Thesis director) / Sanford, Adriana (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor)
Created2015-05
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
Through this thesis we studied and interviewed 6 international business managers that oversee employees in countless countries, and the continents of where they work include: Europe, The Americas, Asia, and Africa. These six managers include: David Kuehn and Ann Marie Griffith from the United States; Bogdan Maliszewski from Poland; Denisa Madarova from the Czech Republic; Gert Schmidts from Germany; and Fer Amkreutz from the Netherlands. Per our interview questions, we discussed how these international managers view their company and culture, the external environment, the cultures they work with and oversee, and the future of international management in regards to a universal value system for business. Our questions were constructed using Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions so that we could better understand how Hofstede's Dimensions have changed due to the technological era, in regards to International Management Styles. In the end, we discovered that there is an undeniable change in how international managers are leading their teams. Throughout the business world, cultural dimensions are changing and are becoming more inclusive of other cultures. This allows managers to lead international teams more effectively and efficiently.
ContributorsGriffith, Henry Donovan (Co-author) / Kuehn, Amanda (Co-author) / Moore, James (Thesis director) / Lisjak, Monika (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to study the happiest countries in the world and see what factors, laws, and values they have in common. I will be focusing on the Scandinavian countries, as they rank highest according to the World Happiness Report. First, I will research these countries to learn more about their political, economic, educational, legal, and social landscapes. Then I will interview individuals from these countries on their views as well as values and thoughts on their country. Finally, I will compare and analyze this information to come to a conclusion to see if there are similar factors that allow these countries to be ranked so highly in the department of happiness. After reading this the reader can take away ideas of how to improve their happiness as well as new perspectives on other countries.
ContributorsFrasure, Laura S. (Author) / Moore, James (Thesis director) / Siroky, David (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Only an Executive Summary of the project is included.
The goal of this project is to develop a deeper understanding of how machine learning pertains to the business world and how business professionals can capitalize on its capabilities. It explores the end-to-end process of integrating a machine and the tradeoffs and obstacles to consider. This topic is extremely pertinent today as the advent of big data increases and the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence is expanding across industries and functional roles. The approach I took was to expand on a project I championed as a Microsoft intern where I facilitated the integration of a forecasting machine learning model firsthand into the business. I supplement my findings from the experience with research on machine learning as a disruptive technology. This paper will not delve into the technical aspects of coding a machine model, but rather provide a holistic overview of developing the model from a business perspective. My findings show that, while the advantages of machine learning are large and widespread, a lack of visibility and transparency into the algorithms behind machine learning, the necessity for large amounts of data, and the overall complexity of creating accurate models are all tradeoffs to consider when deciding whether or not machine learning is suitable for a certain objective. The results of this paper are important in order to increase the understanding of any business professional on the capabilities and obstacles of integrating machine learning into their business operations.
The goal of this project is to develop a deeper understanding of how machine learning pertains to the business world and how business professionals can capitalize on its capabilities. It explores the end-to-end process of integrating a machine and the tradeoffs and obstacles to consider. This topic is extremely pertinent today as the advent of big data increases and the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence is expanding across industries and functional roles. The approach I took was to expand on a project I championed as a Microsoft intern where I facilitated the integration of a forecasting machine learning model firsthand into the business. I supplement my findings from the experience with research on machine learning as a disruptive technology. This paper will not delve into the technical aspects of coding a machine model, but rather provide a holistic overview of developing the model from a business perspective. My findings show that, while the advantages of machine learning are large and widespread, a lack of visibility and transparency into the algorithms behind machine learning, the necessity for large amounts of data, and the overall complexity of creating accurate models are all tradeoffs to consider when deciding whether or not machine learning is suitable for a certain objective. The results of this paper are important in order to increase the understanding of any business professional on the capabilities and obstacles of integrating machine learning into their business operations.
ContributorsVerma, Ria (Author) / Goegan, Brian (Thesis director) / Moore, James (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Many theorists, corporations, and employers have struggled to foster an employee identity that benefits both the company and those working for it. Corporations have looked at ways to align its corporate identity and organizational identity in hopes that its employees will discern values similar to their own and identify with the organization. Companies hope this in turn will cause employees to support their organization, allow them to experience a stronger sense of loyalty to their company, and as a result, be retained for longer by their employers. As more millennials continue to enter the workforce, this need for retention through aligned identification with a company is even more significant. In this article we will strive to explain why corporations have had such difficulty retaining millennials, and why this generation is viewed as so hard to manage. We will do this by examining different forms of identity in a company, and isolating key millennial traits that may affect how they view their own employee identity. We will introduce the idea that millennials are stuck in a phase of neutral organizational identification, and that this is caused by a lack of alignment between what they, and the company, view as valuable. We will explore the need for companies to redefine their organizational identity to better match this new generation's needs, and discern whether an alignment between the two can be met. The concept of a generationally lower sense of self-categorization, affecting their ability to identify with their organization, will also be explored. In addition, we will discuss the idea that the largest struggle for millennial retention is caused by an inconsistency with their current job and their job expectations based on a lack of balance between their current degree of employee identification, and their idealized expectations. With these hypotheses, we will then discuss management suggestions, as well as possible further research.
ContributorsHintze, Brittney Ann (Author) / Moore, James (Thesis director) / Ashforth, Blake (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The process of producing enormous amounts of ephemeral clothing at accelerated rates, known as fast fashion, creates significant environmental and societal issues. The phenomenon of fast fashion rose due to globalization, economic factors, lack of legislation, and the advancement of technology. Governments, companies, and consumers must work together to create more sustainable retail supply chains. I have gathered information from interviews with individuals in the sustainable fashion industry, books, case studies, online reports, and newspaper articles. Based on my research, I recommend that companies should target wealthier consumers, develop a common language concerning sustainability, invest in sustainable fibers, and listen to factory employees for solutions to improve their working conditions. I also advise that the U.S governments should revise fashion copyright laws and international governments should emphasize regulations concerning the fashion industry. Lastly, consumers should adopt a price-per-wear mindset and utilize resale options. Overall, while perfect sustainability is improbable, consumers, governments, and companies should not use this as an excuse to avoid responsibility.
ContributorsWillner, Allison (Author) / Koretz, Lora (Thesis director) / Moore, James (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
A research paper examining how the variance in state labor laws for independent contractors is causing uncertainty about the rights they are entitled to.
ContributorsCorrales, Claudia (Author) / Koretz, Lora (Thesis director) / Moore, James (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor)
Created2023-05