Browsing by Author "Thomas, Cliff, committee member"

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Open Access
Is it worth it? - a phenomenological analysis of the willingness to take interpersonal risk
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2025) Novak, A. Boyd, author; Chermack, Thomas, advisor; Lynham, Susan A., committee member; Maynard, Travis, committee member; Thomas, Cliff, committee member
Developing and implementing new technologies are essential parts of our economic system. Organizations aim to improve career information technology (IT) project success and reduce costs. Late-stage career professionals are valuable assets for organizations to leverage in delivering these projects and capabilities to consumers. Yet, how do organizations get the most from these employees? This study explored the lived experiences of late-stage career (IT) professionals as they navigated interpersonal risk in group settings. Grounded in psychological safety, psychological availability, and resources, the research employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to provide deeper insights into these experiences than prior quantitative studies. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with ten participants. The experiences were analyzed to identify Personal Experiential Themes (PETs), consolidated into seven Group Experiential Themes (GETs): identity, reflections, norms, dilemma, control, boundaries, and resources. The findings indicate that participants approached risky situations with a strong sense of self-identity, shaped by their past experiences and the influence of established norms. When faced with dilemmas, participants aimed for control through organized processes but often encountered difficulties concerning personal boundaries, necessitating careful resource management and decisions about risk engagement. Additionally, the study highlighted two critical resources, reputation and net wealth, which impacted participants' willingness to engage in risky situations. Reputation emerged as a vital social asset related to career longevity, while net wealth indicated future economic security and life expectations. The findings introduce a resource framework to identify the most operative resources for the individuals involved in the study, which may aid future research and HRD practitioners in better understanding and prioritizing interventions and their development. This research enhances our understanding of how people navigate interpersonal risks, offering insights that can improve employee and leadership development programs, organizational structures, and workplace culture. It provides practical recommendations to create environments that support psychological safety and ensure resource availability, boosting performance, retention, and organizational success. The study concludes with recommendations for future research and reflections on the research journey.
Open Access
The role of managerial motivating language in turnover intention of public sector employees
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Brito, Marina M., author; Chermack, Thomas J., advisor; Chai, Dae Seok, committee member; Thomas, Cliff, committee member; Conroy, Samantha A., committee member
This study examined the relationships between three types of managerial motivating language, including a) direction-giving language, b) meaning-making language, and c) empathetic language, and employee turnover intention in the public sector environment. The mediating effect of public service motivation was also examined. Motivating language theory guided this study, variable selection, and hypothesis development. An online questionnaire was distributed to public sector employees of four local government organizations in Utah, US. Descriptive statistics, reliability, correlation, common method variance, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping were used in this study. The results of the analysis confirmed that the hypothesized conceptual model was supported by data. The path analysis showed that motivating language was significantly and negatively associated with public employee turnover intention. Public service motivation did not have a mediating effect on this relationship. The findings supported the application of motivating language theory to the public sector environment with some nuances. The significance of the study includes a deeper understanding of motivating language theory, managerial motivating communication in public sector organizations, and practical applicability of results to leadership development training programs that may influence organizational outcomes including employee turnover intention.
Open Access
Tolerated organizational forgetting in the U.S. Air Force: a case study analysis of knowledge loss among government civilian employees
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Lee, Daniel G., author; Chermack, Thomas, advisor; Chai, DaeSeok, committee member; Conroy, Samantha, committee member; Thomas, Cliff, committee member
Organizations do not learn well. As a result, they lose valuable knowledge. When knowledge is lost in organizations, workers are forced to spend as much as 25% of their workday looking for information to do their jobs, contributing to workplace frustration, anxiety, and personnel retention challenges (Businesswire, 2022). Numerous studies on knowledge management, organizational memory, and organizational forgetting have expanded organizations' view of knowledge as a valuable organizational resource. The problem of interest in this dissertation is that while prescriptive measures to retain organizational knowledge exist, organizations continue to lose valuable knowledge. Such knowledge loss in the government contributes to performance inefficiencies, unnecessary costs to U.S. taxpayers, and the potential inability of military forces to meet national security requirements. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the contextual issues that influence how and why forgetting is tolerated within strategic-level organizations of the Air Force as experienced by the civilian workforce. The research questions that guided this study are as follows: Why do Air Force organizations tolerate forgetting despite policy directives and available prescriptive remedies? How do Air Force organizations prioritize knowledge loss in their learning and knowledge management activities? and How are organizational processes, systems, and culture managed to address knowledge loss? The study expands the existing models of organizational forgetting that focus on intentional and unintentional knowledge loss to include forgetting that is neither of these but is tolerated by organizations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 mid- to senior-level Air Force civilian employees representing eight strategic-level organizations. Four themes were identified as contributing to tolerated organizational forgetting. First, motivation and values within the organization often relegate knowledge management efforts to other tasks. Second, a culture of acceptance and lack of accountability habituate organizations to knowledge loss. Third, organizational focus on near-term objectives creates strategic blindness. Lastly, undocumented business processes contribute to a loss of governance and ad hoc practices. These findings provide practical considerations to address tolerated forgetting in organizations and provide new avenues for refining organizational forgetting theory.