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The topic of this qualitative case study is the socialization and training of constituents in a participatory governance project at Walla Walla Community College. The goal is to address conflict still present in governance across the United States. These problems are important because they impact the effectiveness of constituents in governing structures, ultimately resulting in a negative impact on the business operations of the institution as a whole. The purpose is to address conflict using a multi-theoretical framework by applying structural and human relational theory to socialize and train constituents. This single, common case, case study includes analysis of 16 participant interviews who completed the socialization and training process at the site. Site and participant selection occurred through non-probabilistic, criterion-based, purposeful sampling. Data analysis occurred through multiple rounds of sentence and paragraph concept coding in Nvivo 12 software. The first question looked at how WWCC socialized participants into a governance structure and provided training in a manner that facilitated diverse perspectives. Emerging themes include the structure of Governance Council and the sub-councils, and the pre-training and first session participants experienced. The second question examined currently housed processes and procedures that influenced participant collaboration and cohesion. Two themes emerged, the structure of the core theme groups and the second session participants attended. The last research question explored how the governance structure supported the cohesion of better decision-making information for the entire institution. The themes included the structure of channels of communication and the third, fourth, and fifth session participants experienced. Potential implications of this study include reducing conflict currently experienced in governance structure relating to structural and human relational issues. Future researchers could conduct a multiple-case or quantitative study to develop generalizable strategies for socializing and training participants or apply a third governance framework, political theory, to explore how power and influence impacts governing bodies once they are operational.
Advisor: | Butler, Robin |
Commitee: | Allen, Brian M., Sopko, Leila |
School: | Northcentral University |
Department: | School of Business and Technology Management |
School Location: | United States -- California |
Source: | DAI-A 81/6(E), Dissertation Abstracts International |
Source Type: | DISSERTATION |
Subjects: | Educational administration, Business administration, Educational leadership |
Keywords: | Governance, Human relations theory, Organizational socialization, Participatory governance, Shared governance, Structural theory |
Publication Number: | 27546055 |
ISBN: | 9781392450543 |