Digital Commons Network^™

A Narrative Inquiry Into The Experiences Of Individuals In The Midst Of Organizational Change: A Shift From Systems To Stories, Stanley M. Amaladas

Harold L. Hodgkinson Award for Outstanding Dissertation

This study explores how individuals understand and make meaning of their experiences while in the midst of radical organizational change. Empirical materials for this research were obtained though written stories and interviews of two groups of managers within the Canadian public sector who were themselves in the throes of organizational change. The findings of this study were analyzed through a three-dimensional-narrative-inquiry-space framework.

The results of this study (a) support the postmodernist notion of a recursive relationship between metaphors and stories, and (b) between metaphors/stories and experiences, namely that they dialectically inform, structure and maintain the other. It was also discovered …

The Relationship Of Consideration And Structure Leadership Styles To Employee Job Satisfaction In Nonprofit Child Care Organizations, Stephanie L. Brooke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study examined the relationship between leadership style, as measured by the Leadership Opinion Questionnaire, and job satisfaction, global job satisfaction, and satisfaction with supervision, as measured by the Job Satisfaction Survey. Past research suggests that leaders with a considerate style of leadership are associated with greater job satisfaction compared to leaders who initiate structure. Although many studies of leadership style have been conducted in for-profit organizations, the objective of this research was to better understand the relationship of leadership style to job satisfaction in nonprofit child care centers. Eight directors in nonprofit child care centers in Rochester, New York, …

Psychological Resilience: The Influence Of Positive And Negative Life Events Upon Optimism, Hope, And Perceived Locus Of Control, Michael Philip Hand

Frank Dilley Award for Outstanding Doctoral Study

The purpose of this study was to clarify the optimal levels of optimism, perceived locus of control, hope, and degree of adversity experienced in life, in the development and maintenance of psychological resilience. A sample of 328 male and female students from Walden University and Washington State University completed either online or paper versions of a questionnaire consisting of the Life Orientation Test-Revised, Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, HOPE Scale , and the Life Experiences Scale . A series of bivariate correlation and multiple regression analyses tested the relationships between and among the five variables. As predicted, the bivariate analyses …

Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, And Firm Value In The Oil And Gas Industry, Javier Fadul

Frank Dilley Award for Outstanding Doctoral Study

This study investigated the relationship between ethical performance, corporate social responsibility, and firm value in companies in the oil and gas industry. Ethical behavior and social responsibility were conceptualized by a series of social indexes used to carry out empirical observations. The data were collected from a sample of 55 companies drawn from the population of companies in the oil and gas industry and consisting of public documents, including proceedings of government bodies and court records, and newspapers and magazines dated from January 2000 through December 2003. The set of social indexes was analyzed statistically to establish any significant relationship …