Managing Organizational Identity: Government Dependency and Organizational Mission in South African: Social Development Nonprofits

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Eric Darsow and Dr. Warner Woodworth, Organizational Leadership and Strategy Project Purpose and Output Many nonprofit organizations in South Africa sacrifice their autonomy and mission focus in exchange for the secure funding source of government service provision. The purpose of this project was to investigate and develop management techniques whereby nonprofit organizations in South Africa […]

The Learning Advantage: The Effect of Operational Focus on the Rate of Organizational Learning

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Jeffrey Savage and Dr. Peter Madsen, Organizational Leadership and Strategy My ORCA project is primarily focused on organizational learning. I am working closely with Peter Madsen, my mentor, to gather data and find supporting literature. Our hypothesis is that strategic focus will increase the rate at which organizations learn. In a nuclear power plant, this […]

“Working to Put Food on the Table”: Fractured Identities and Mission Drift in a South African Nonprofit Organization

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Eric C. Darsow and Drs. Christopher Meek and Warner Woodworth Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) face a tradeoff between activities which further their mission and those which generate revenue to pay salaries and bills. For many NPOs, management’s increasing attention to cash flow suppresses the organization’s service-oriented mission and alienates staff. This ORCA grant funded a case […]

Mission Drifts in Microcredit: The Drift Away from the Poorest of the Poor; and, the Drift From Providing Social Benefits

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Jared Mabey and Dr. Warner Woodworth, Organizational Behavior Overview This thesis shows that the microcredit movement=s fixation on reaching financial self-sustainability is causing microfinance institutions to cease to achieve important objectives, namely: 1) reaching the poorest of the poor, and 2) providing bank members with social benefits. As a response to these problems, this thesis […]

Summation of ORCA Research

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Blaine Johnson and Dr. Warner Woodworth, Organizational Behavior Objective I proposed to develop a method of community development originating and sustained by those within the targeted developing communities. After formulating this methodology I anticipated the formation of a practical development advisory group on the campus of BYU that may lend assistance to emerging humanitarian organizations […]

Repairing Workplace Relationships: The Salience of Accounts and Circumstantial Moderators

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Brian Reschke and Dr. Kristen B. DeTienne, Organizational Leadership and Strategy Research Question Misunderstandings, breaches of trust, and unmet expectations are frequent in the workplace. Accounts, or explanations of behavior, are often deployed by alleged offenders to reshape others‟ attributions regarding conduct. In recent years, scholars have returned to the question of how rifts in […]

Vocal Artifacts: A Video-Based Study of the Appropriation and Articulation of Material Objects within Employment Interviews

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Emily Warren and Dr. LeBaron Curtis, Department of Organizational Leadership and Strategy The goal of this project was to examine how material objects and texts (e.g., resumes, letters, application files, etc.) may be appropriated and articulated during employment interviews. While past research focused on the verbal and discursive features of employment interviews, using research methods […]

The Effect of Relational Self-Construal in Dispute Resolutions and Negotiations

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Aubri Robinson and Dr. Sheli Sillito, Department of Organizational Leadership and Strategy The purpose of our research project was to determine the influence of managerial fairness in the context of dispute resolution and negotiation. We aimed to identify whether managers’ relational self-construal (RSC), whether they define themselves in terms of their close relationships with others, […]