The American Newsroom: A Social History, 1920 to 1960

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Does management capacity increase organizational performance? An empirical analysis of public housing agencies

Since the 1990s, scholars have paid special attention to public management’s role in theory and research under the assumption that effective management is one of the primary means for achieving superior performance. To some extent, this was influenced by popular business writings of the 1980s as well as the reinventing literature of the 1990s. A number of case studies but limited quantitative research papers have been published showing that management matters in the performance of public organizations. ^ My study examined whether or not management capacity increased organizational performance using quantitative techniques. The specific research problem analyzed was whether significant differences existed between high and average performing public housing agencies on select criteria identified in the Government Performance Project (GPP) management capacity model, and whether this model could predict outcome performance measures in a statistically significant manner, while controlling for exogenous influences. My model included two of four GPP management subsystems (human resources and information technology), integration and alignment of subsystems, and an overall managing for results framework. It also included environmental and client control variables that were hypothesized to affect performance independent of management action. ^ Descriptive results of survey responses showed high performing agencies with better scores on most high performance dimensions of individual criteria, suggesting support for the model; however, quantitative analysis found limited statistically significant differences between high and average performers and limited predictive power of the model. My analysis led to the following major conclusions: past performance was the strongest predictor of present performance; high unionization hurt performance; and budget related criterion mattered more for high performance than other model factors. As to the specific research question, management capacity may be necessary but it is not sufficient to increase performance. ^ The research suggested managers may benefit by implementing best practices identified through the GPP model. The usefulness of the model could be improved by adding direct service delivery to the model, which may also improve its predictive power. Finally, there are abundant tested concepts and tools designed to improve system performance that are available for practitioners designed to improve management subsystem support of direct service delivery.^

Women in the Global Clothing and Textile Industry

This paper examines the current role of women in the clothing and textile industry through oral history of South African union members. I argue that the industry’s particularly exploitative environment is directly related to both gender and globalization, acting together to worsen conditions in factories. Additionally, I argue that the more recent addition of an increasingly consumer-driven industry structure also impacts its abusive environment. Unionization, along with public and private regulation, have the potential to be catalysts for change in the industry. To be most effective, these organizations need to take into account both gender and globalization, and recognize the equal impacts both have when making decisions.

Derechos colectivos de las y los servidores públicos al amparo de las Enmiendas Constitucionales de 2015

La Constitución de la República del Ecuador vigente desde el año 2008, reconoce y garantiza derechos para los ciudadanos domiciliados en el país, entre ellos trabajadores/as y servidoras y servidores públicos. En diciembre de 2015, la Asamblea Nacional del Ecuador, mediante el procedimiento de Enmienda Constitucional unificó el régimen laboral de las personas que prestan sus servicios laborales en las instituciones y organismos estatales, debiendo adecuarse la normativa legal y secundaria a esta modificación de la Carta Magna hasta junio de 2016. En el presente trabajo abordaremos en su primer capítulo antecedentes históricos del derecho al trabajo en general y la legislación histórica que ha regido en nuestro país. En el segundo capítulo nos centraremos en distinguir cuales son las características del régimen laboral público y del privado en Ecuador y realizaremos recomendaciones en relación a derechos individuales de los servidores públicos. En el tercer capítulo haremos referencia a los Convenios Internacionales de la OIT ratificados y no ratificados por nuestro país. En el cuarto capítulo estableceremos similitudes y diferencias entre las legislaciones regionales en razón del reconocimiento de derechos colectivos para servidores públicos. En el capítulo cinco detallaremos criterios doctrinarios sobre los derechos de ejercicio colectivo, es decir: huelga, convenio colectivo y sindicalización en el sector público para finalmente en el sexto y último capítulo dar recomendaciones para la inminente reforma a la Ley Orgánica de Servicio Público, LOSEP.

HOG CHAINS AND MARK TWAINS: A STUDY OF LABOR HISTORY, ARCHAEOLOGY, AND INDUSTRIAL ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE STEAMBOAT ERA OF THE MONONGAHELA VALLEY 1811-1950

This dissertation examines a unique working class in the United States, the men and women who worked on the steamboats from the Industrial Revolution until the demise of steam-powered boats in the mid-20th century. The steamboat was the beginning of a technological system that was developed in America and used in such great numbers that it made the rapid population of the Trans-Appalachian West possible. The steamboat was forever romanticized by images of the antebellum South or the quick wit of Samuel Clemens and his sentimental book, Life on the Mississippi. The imagination swirls with thoughts of boats, bleach white, slowly churning the calm waters of some Spanish moss covered river. The reality of the boats and the experience of those who worked on them has been lost in this nostalgic vision. This research details the history of the western steamboat in the Monongahela Valley, the birthplace of the commercial steamboat industry. The first part of this dissertation examines the literature of authors in the field of labor history and Industrial Archaeology to place this work into the larger context of published literature. The second builds a framework for understanding the various eras that the steamboat went through both in terms of technological change, but also the change the workers experienced as their identity as a working class was being shaped. The third part details the excavations of two steamboat captains houses, those of Captain James Gormley and Captain Michael A. Cox. Both men represented a time in which the steamboat was in an era of transition. Excavations at their homes yield clues to their class status and how integrated they were in the local community. The fourth part of this study documents the oral histories of steamboat workers, both men and women, and their experience on the boats and on the river. Their rapidly declining population of those who lived and worked on the boats gives urgency for their lives to be documented. Finally, this study concludes with a synthesis of how worker identity solidified in the face of technological, socio-economic, and ideological change especially during their push for unionization and the introduction of the diesel towboat.