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Leadership Through Effective Communication, Han Boon Kevin Lim

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Charismatic leadership oratory is critical in aligning the organisational vision and goals for business sustainability. This research focuses on charismatic leadership, particularly on oratory leading to charismatic perception by the audience. This research seeks to provide future leaders with a better perspective of the multigenerational workforce in an effort to customise the rhetorical process for this diverse workforce to enhance charismatic perception, thereby promoting organisational communication.

The audience in prior studies has been treated as a homogeneous unit (Clark & Greatbatch, 2011; Groß et al., 2015), without distinguishing between different generational groups and their respective receptiveness to a leadership oratory. …

"Making God's Love Manifest": American Expressions And Productions Of Charisma In Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi's Global Following, Karen Margaret Esche-Eiff

Theses and Dissertations

While situating it in a changing American religious landscape marked by increasing participation in metaphysical religion, this dissertation examines the appeal of contemporary Indian godperson, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma), to Americans. Although replete with portraits of individual Indian spiritual leaders’ charisma, the anthropology of religion literature seldom addresses the processes whereby such figures’ charisma gets produced. Drawing on thirteen months of multi-sited ethnographic research conducted between 2015-2016, this dissertation uses Max Weber’s theory of charisma to answer the following questions: what extraordinary capacity do American devotees attribute to Amma; what is the process whereby they and she co-produce this …

Re-Examining The Cult Of Personality: A Comparative Cross-National Case Study Of Kim Il Sung, Mao Zedong, And Ho Chi Minh, Thach Hong Pham

Political Science Theses

The thesis re-examines the utility of the charismatic leader’s cult of personality as a strategic power-enhancing tool by performing a cross-national comparative case study of three Asian personality cults – Kim Il Sung, Mao Zedong, and Ho Chi Minh. To what extent did these cult leaders possess the godlike powers that the cult of personality literature implies? The thesis finds support for the conclusion that increasing deification of a leader is not always positively correlated with a leader’s godlike powers, operationalized as a leader’s unilateral decision-making powers over national policies. Kim Il Sung’s cult was manipulated by family members for …

The Rise And Fall Of Qigong, William J. Cramer

Honors Papers

This capstone engages the history qigong, a Chinese method of spiritual and bodily cultivation. Although similar Daoist practices have existed for thousands of years, the term qigong was invented by the Chinese military in the 1950s. Qigong exploded in popularity in China from the early 1980s to the late 90s. The Chinese state promoted, appropriated, regulated, and ultimately suppressed qigong. On one hand, the Chinese Communist Party wanted to measure and order qigong according to orthodox scientific and political principles, thus processing and controlling the explosion of spirituality known as “Qigong Fever.” Yet on the other hand, both within and …

The Sound Of Leadership: The Self-Leadership Strategies Of Local Activist Musicians, John Hill

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

Within this dissertation I focused on the examination of local activist musicians’ self-leadership strategies and the method in which they lead social change movements. Additionally, I sought to increase the understanding of charismatic leadership, self-leadership strategies of local activist musicians, and the method in which local activist musicians lead social movements. To my knowledge, no published studies have explored local activist musicians’ self-leadership strategies. Therefore, this study is significant because I (a) explored a term which lacks a unifying definition, charismatic leadership, (b) provided theoretical foundations for activist musicians and social change, and (c) explored the self-leadership strategies of …

Relationship Between Transformational Leadership And Perceived Meaning In Work, Denise Adams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have conducted correlational studies on transformational leadership and perceived meaning in work; however, researchers have not used an experimental design to examine the relationship between transformational leadership and perceived meaning in work. The purpose of this study was to determine whether reading information on transformational leadership, which focused on charisma and individualized consideration, influenced participants' hypothetical judgment of perceived meaning in work. The quantitative study included a 2 x 2 between-subjects design in which information on the independent variables of charisma and individualized consideration was manipulated in a description of a hypothetical leader. The dependent variable was the hypothetical …

The Edge-Man Of Bayreuth: Richard Wagner, Liminal Space, And The Power Of Potential, Heidi Lee Jensen

Music ETDs

The present study explores Richard Wagners strategic use of liminal space in identity construction, as a means of navigating difficult life circumstances, gaining prestige as composer/historic figure, and as a method to obtain enduring notoriety for his works. Liminal spaces are a nexus of vulnerability and power. They are a locus of potential as they are a release from structural limitations, however they can also be a site of contested power and susceptibility. Young Wagner as an adolescent and a member of the lower middle class experienced the condition of economic marginality felt by many Germans of that time period. …

Natural Resource Revolutions: Mexico And Cuba Within The Sphere Of U.S. Hegemony, Joseph J. García

Latin American Studies ETDs

The improbable trajectories of Mexico and Cuba give rise to compelling questions: in what ways have the revolutionary governments of Mexico and Cuba been able to practice successful defiance of the United States hegemon of the twentieth century? And how has that defiance helped to define U.S. foreign policy in Latin America? This dissertation presents a detailed examination of the contexts surrounding both the Mexican and Cuban Revolutions and their struggle against imperialist-driven interventions by the United States in Latin America and the Caribbean. I argue that through strategic decisions, the Mexican and Cuban revolutionary governments were able to ward …

The Effects Of Charismatic Leadership And Religion On Decision Making, Brandt A. Smith

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

We examined the effects of leadership and religious priming on decision-making in a resource allocation task involving a decision between funding hydro-fracture mining research and/or solar energy research. We found strong main effects for charismatic v. non-charismatic leadership, and for religious priming v. non-religious priming. Further, we found a significant interaction in that the effects of religious priming on economic decision-making in a resource allocation task was stronger in the non-charismatic condition than in the charismatic condition. Implications of this research and recommendations for future studies are discussed.

Imam, Shah, And Ayatollah: Charismatic Leadership In The Shi'i Tradition, And Its Role In Iran's Shi'ite Revolutions, Jonathon Case Henderson

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the role of charismatic religious leadership in Iran's two Shi'ite revolutions. Included within the larger arguments of this work, are sections addressing the scholastic categorizations of charisma, the development of the Shi'i Islamic tradition, and they way in which the charisma of the was appropriated by later Shi'i figures to bring about social, political, and religious revolutions in Iran. For this work, Shah Isma'il ibn Haydar and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini serve as examples of charismatic Shi'i figures that drew upon the suspended charisma of the Shi'i Imams. This work also briefly comments on events in contemporary Iran …

Mobilizing The Masses: The Need For Vision And Charisma, Christi R. Calvano

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study examined the significance of vision and charisma as the two pertinent characteristics that explain the difference in the degree of commitment of followers. The following hypotheses were proposed: (1) Leaders who espouse a more inclusive vision are more likely to mobilize highly committed followers; and (2) Leaders who are more charismatic are more likely to mobilize highly committed followers. ' Leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and the Independence Movement in India, specifically, Martin Luther King, Jr., Roy Wilkins, Stokely Carmichael, Mohandas Gandhi, Abul Kalam Azad, and Mohammad Ali Jinnah were assessed. Two orations …