Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
Browse
2 results
Search Results
Item "We band of brothers"? A social-identity-based study of military public affairs professional identity, organizational socialization, and collaboration(2019) Bermejo, Julio Javier; Liu, Brooke F; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Today, military public relations, or military public affairs (Levenshus, 2013), is drawing attention for the lessons it might have to offer to organizations more broadly. Yet, military public affairs has been neglected within the public relations scholarly field (Toledano, 2010). In the present study, I applied the “social identity approach” (Hornsey, 2008, pp. 204-205) as my conceptual framework to explore the development of military public affairs professional identity through socialization of public affairs managers in joint entry-level military public affairs training. Along with professional identity and organizational socialization, I explored the development and practice of collaboration as a public affairs competency. To complete the study, I conducted semi-structured interviews (27 initial interviews, three follow-up interviews) with 27 students, practitioners (i.e., former students), instructors, and administrators of the U.S. Defense Department’s entry-level Public Affairs Qualification Course. Findings supported the scholarly understanding that public relations practice is a boundary spanning function, with internal boundary spanning an important aspect of the public affairs manager’s work (Neill, 2014). Findings helped to extend understanding of organizational socialization by suggesting that the public affairs manager, as a nonprototypical member of the organization, must be accepted by the commanding officer and other leaders, often representing combat arms fields, to achieve inclusion in the organization (Wenzel, Mummendey, & Waldzus, 2007). Findings further helped to broaden understanding of public relations collaboration by drawing attention to vital collaboration partners that have been obscured through their agglomeration in the concept of the “dominant coalition” (Grunig, 2006, p. 160). Findings suggested the new insight that public affairs managers are socialized for proactivity, an unexpected outcome given the priorities of military organizations as “high-reliability organizations” (Myers, 2005, p. 345). Additionally, findings suggested that ambiguity attends the public affairs function and that this ambiguity can constrain public affairs, but also create opportunities for collaboration, especially under conditions of contextual uncertainty (L. A. Grunig, 1992; Rast, Gaffney, Hogg, & Crisp, 2012). Findings additionally suggested that collaboration opportunities may increase for public affairs when those efforts are more visible to the organization and are seen to benefit it (Platow & van Knippenberg, 2001).Item A Qualitative Study of Undergraduate Instrumentalists Teaching Elementary General Music Education(2012) Corfield-Adams, Maggie; Carter, Bruce; Hughes, Sherick; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The central purpose of this multiple-case study was to describe the professional identities of six general music teachers who identified as instrumentalists as undergraduates. The study builds upon research addressing why students choose music education (Bergee, et al., 2001; Bright, 2006; Gillespie & Hamann, 1999; Lee, 2003; Madsen & Kelly, 2002) and the reasons some instrumentally "tracked" students may choose general music (Anderson-Nickel, 1997; Robinson, 2010). This study investigated tensions between the participants' instrumental backgrounds and the professional demands of general music teaching, and the role of those tensions in shaping professional identities. The conceptual framework is grounded in the work of Gee (2000) who suggests that the existence of identities requires interpretive systems through which individuals and institutions interact. The study describes tensions between institutional identities and core identities as important to the process of participants' professional identity development. Participants were general music teachers, 24 - 51 years of age, from different undergraduate institutions and who teach in different regions of the country. Semi-structured interviews, participant essays, transcripts, notebooks, and institutional websites were used for data collection. Participants' stories represent both narrative inquiry and case study approaches to qualitative research. Data analysis included a process of recontextualization (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996) to facilitate the production of narratives and coding techniques in individual and cross-case analysis. Cross-case analysis revealed seven emergent themes: (1) concerns about "perceived limitations" (Robinson, 2010, p. 41) of ensemble teaching as an important factor in the choice to teach general music, (2) the structure and requirements of directing a band as a factor in a turn toward working with younger students, (3) the unique structure of general music classes as a source of initial challenge, (4) a given curriculum or scope and sequence as something of value, (5) vocal teaching as a unique challenge for some instrumentally-trained general music teachers, (6) changes in self-identification as linked to agreements between institutional identities and core identities, and (7) professional positionality in relation to students, not colleagues. The concluding section offers suggestions for future research and implications for undergraduate music programs and school systems.