Business Commons^™

An Examination Of Perceived Leadership Behaviors And Employee Engagement In The Us Federal Government: An Exploratory Study, Jason Barker

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Leadership can exist in any organization or entity. It has been studied extensively and examined comprehensively. There have been various theories of what type of leadership is ideal or suitable for a group or organization. From transformational to transactional leadership, leadership styles exist that can contribute to organizations and the style they employ. Employee engagement can be based on either or both transformational and transactional leadership factors. Transformational leadership behaviors generally show an increase in employee engagement. Employee engagement has an association with job satisfaction and leadership perception. Leadership styles will be defined, in addition to factors in the employee’ …

Barriers To Mentoring Women Of Color For Corporate Leadership: Implications For Organizations, Donna Marie Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Mentoring as a human capital development initiative is critical to leadership development for organizational sustainment. Previous research has identified that barriers to mentoring relationships for women of color in organizations exist, confirmed by the finding that a factor in barriers to corporate promotion for women is a lack of mentoring. This dissertation explores the implications that barriers to workplace mentoring relationships may have for organizations from the perspective of women of color. Findings suggest that barriers to mentoring relationships experienced and perceived by women of color have evolved in presentation or diminished since those found by previous research. This research …

Organizational Innovations That Stick: Best Practices In Sustainable Organizational Change, Abdoulie Jammeh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Organizational change is an essential ingredient of organizational growth/life and can be difficult to accomplish. Many researchers and practitioners have studied the challenges and opportunities surrounding effectuating change and innovation in organizations. However, there has been little practical analysis of the theoretical relationships among the key apparatuses that make change stick, institutionalizing innovation in big bureaucratic organizations. In order to develop practical insights that can inform best practices, this paper aims to provide a collection of successful organizational innovation examples based on responses to a critical incident analysis survey of 12 participants from a 2018 World Bank – USC Annenberg …

A Correlational Analysis Of A Leadership Development Model And Church Growth, Thomas D. Mullins

PhD in Organizational Leadership

Organizational growth and vision can outpace leadership development, which ultimately creates frustration and decline in leadership, followership, and teamwork. To counter regression, organizations must determine the factors that hinder leadership development while creating pathways towards organizational success. Research indicates that church attendance in America is in decline, but there are exceptions to this national trend. A case study of one of the fastest growing churches in America reveals a correlation between intentionally fostering a culture of leadership development and one’s ability to continue seizing available growth opportunities. This parallel hypothesized by the researcher in this study was validated through the …

Leading Mindfully In Dynamic Times: Can A Mindfulness-Based Leadership Training And Coaching Program Increase Leadership Effectiveness?, Nina Tan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This research examined the influence of a Mindfulness-based Leadership Training and Coaching Program (MBP), in garnering three aspects of leadership effectiveness; extra employee effort, productive performance and followers’ satisfaction with leadership.

We hypothesized that mindfulness-based leadership training and coaching program can influence leaders’ frequency in adopting authentic, transformational and transactional leadership behaviors to enhance leadership effectiveness.

We tested these predictions separately on two control and intervention groups. Results suggested that the combined training and coaching mindfulness-based intervention program had predictive effects between the practice of mindful attunement of leaders’ behaviors and enhancement in leadership effectiveness, even in a short span …

Harmonies And Dissonances: The Relationship Between Values Taught And Values Experienced In Three Values-Oriented High Schools, Barbara Merson

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative study examined the relationship between values taught and values experienced in three values-oriented high schools, i.e., high schools whose educational philosophy and objectives include an emphasis on specific values. The research questions focused on description of values taught and experienced within the schools, the perception of leaders and teachers about this relationship, and the theories of action developed by school leaders and teachers to enhance the relationship. Primary data sources included interviews with leaders and teachers, observations of classrooms and public spaces, and document reviews in each school. Data were analyzed both within each school and across the …

Morality In Organizations: Ethics, Meaning, And God At Work, Elizabeth Ann Luckman

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores morality in organizations through three distinct research projects. In Chapter 1, I begin to examine a century of business ethics research conducted across business functions in order to bridge the silos of research and teaching that have evolved over time. Preliminary findings suggest that the field of management has produced comparatively more business ethics research than other functions, and that marketing and accounting have examined the ethical implications of their professional responsibilities. Chapter 2 examines the effect of meaning at work on unethical behavior. Through three studies, I find evidence to suggest that individuals with a stronger …

Paving The Way For Merleau-Ponty’S Eye And Mind In Organizational Communication Studies, Johan Bodaski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The body is a sense-based medium that creates and interprets organizations. Bodies create organization. An aesthetic theory of organizational communication reveals the significance of the body to the organization. Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of aesthetics offers a theory of aesthetic organizational communication that is yet to be developed. Merleau-Ponty’s aesthetic essay on painting, Eye and Mind, describes the body as the medium through which painters turn the world into painting. His philosophy of painting builds bridges between aesthetics, the body, and organizational communication.

In chapter one, four theories of organizational communication are described: communication constitutes organization (CCO), text/interpreter, ventriloquism, and …

Exploring The Quality Of The Leader-Follower Relationship And Its Effect On Followers’ Organizational Citizenship Behaviors In A Public-Service Organization, Kristina Zaragoza

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this sequential, explanatory mixed-methods study was to identify and describe to what extent the quality of the leader-follower relationship, as perceived by followers, affects followers’ organizational citizenship behaviors in a public-service organization.

Methodology: A sequential mixed-methods study was the chosen design for this study. The first phase consisted of quantitative research in the form of a survey questionnaire that measured followers’ organizational citizenship behaviors. The researcher then conducted semistructured, face-to-face interviews that measured the quality of the leader-follower relationship.

Findings: Followers engage in organizational citizenship behaviors at a moderate to high level. Followers willingly assist co-workers …

Understanding Humor In Female Leadership, Lillian Hollar

Honors Projects

This research investigates the relationship between humor, gender, and leadership effectiveness. To explore the relationship between these factors, I asked individuals what they thought about the relationship between humor and their experiences with female leaders. For this research, female is defined as a person who identifies as a woman. Humor is defined as the act of making jokes to elicit a response. My research focuses on the relationship between humor and female leadership as measured by individuals’ attitudes. The results show that some people believe there is a correlation between humor and female leadership, but does not prove conclusively that …

Inclusive Leadership And Employee Engagement: The Moderating Effect Of Psychological Diversity Climate, Jose Luis Rodriguez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Leadership is a well-known complex phenomenon that focuses on important organizational, social and personal processes, where leadership is dependent on a process of social influence, which occurs between the leader and follower (Bolden, 2004). Therefore, leaders need to operate with a certain understanding of leadership and the environment in order to address the increasing pressures and demands that come with being a leader. However, leadership concepts too often focus on leader behaviors apart from their effects on followers; in contrast, Inclusive Leadership (IL) highlights the importance of leadership as a social construction process between the leader and follower. The present …

Iranian Leadership Ideals: A Culturally-Based Leadership Approach, Azadeh Davari

Dissertations

In light of many current financial and ethical crises, scholars have called for looking beyond our existing Western-based approaches for innovative leadership practices. Recent research about the success and unique management practices of Indian corporations (Cappelli et al., 2010) shows a unique style based on both people and profit and one that blends capitalist profit-based structures with caring for people and community. That research has been the basis for suggestions for the existence of a distinct Indo-European leadership (IEL) style (Nahavandi, 2012a; Nahavandi & Krishnan, 2017) with philosophical roots in Iran and India and provides impetus for looking beyond Western …

A Model For The Role Of Information Technology Leaders In Disaster Recovery Planning And Organizational Resilience, Varun Vuppala, Rasoola Tyler

Mathematics and Computer Science Capstones

Natural and man-made disasters in the past several years have resulted in millions in damages and losses. Despite this, disaster recovery is often not considered by boards as a priority. This paper will detail the current research on organizational resilience in relation to disaster recovery. It will cover the best practices for IT leaders to prepare for disasters and make their organizations more resilient. It will also show how IT leaders can work to convince their boards to invest in disaster recovery planning and how they can build organizational resilience culture in their organizations through a structured organizational culture change …

Hearts And Minds: An Analysis Of Checks And Safeguards, Monitoring, And Performance Review Of Executive Boards And Their Executive Directors Within Select Nonprofit Corporations., John Michael Wagner

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Horror stories of ineffective nonprofit organization management arise in the media far too often. When these stories emerge, the public demands accountability from those responsible. Ultimately, accountability rests with the fiduciaries of the organization. For nonprofit

organizations in the United States, fiduciary responsibility and accountability reside with the board of directors.

Board governance has been widely studied in the for-profit sector. Due to the critical nature of the work nonprofits perform, there has been an increasing effort to study board governance in nonprofit organizations. Employing in depth interviews, with both executive

directors and board members, checks and safeguards such as …

The Leadership Role Of Management Accountants As It Contributes To Innovation And Entrepreneurship In Start-Up Businesses In Southern California, Paula Edwards

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand and describe the leadership role of managerial accountants as it contributes to innovation in start-up businesses in Southern California.

Methodology: The methodology used to understand and describe the leadership role of managerial accountants as it contributes to the innovation and entrepreneurship in start-up businesses in Southern California was a qualitative study. The study participants included 12 entrepreneurs who had started a business in the last five years, had utilized a management accountant on a part-time, full-time or consultant basis and are located in the San Diego, Orange, or Los …

The Role Of Leadership In Student Organizations, Samantha Mcanallen

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the extent to which the leaders of the Eta Delta chapter of Beta Alpha Psi (BAP) and the JMU Women’s Rugby club embody the characteristics of the leaders of successful organizations by examining these two organizations in the context of the characteristics of successful organizational cultures. In order to conduct an appropriate examination of the cultures of these two organizations, I chose to compare them to the characteristics of successful group cultures presented in Daniel Coyle’s The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups. Throughout his book, Coyle highlights the …

Transformational Leadership In Club Sports: An Instrument For Evaluation And Assessment, Nathan Shelby Hutchens

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Campus Recreation and its programs can be used as a way to combat the national trends of decreasing enrollment and retention (Weaver, Forte, & McFadden, 2017; Kampf & Teske, 2013). In fact, 62% of students indicate that Campus Recreation programs are a factor when choosing an institution and 67% indicate that recreation programs were a factor when deciding to stay at a particular institution (Forrester, 2014). As a program within Campus Recreation, Club Sports specifically is perceived to have the greatest health and wellbeing benefits out of all Campus Recreation programming (Lower, Turner, & Petersen, 2013). Due to the voluntary …

Improvisation And Leadership Development: Understanding Improvisational Theater Arts As Leadership Skills, Jack Skalican

Doctoral Dissertations

Leadership development is immersed in a philosophical struggle. Past efforts at developing leaders have missed a set of skills important to the role of today’s leaders. Since Frederick Taylor invented the practice of scientific management, the study of management and leadership has largely focused on traits, practices, and behaviors that conform to this model such as planning, analysis, control, and monitoring. Missing in this focus, however, are less transactional leadership skills like intuition, improvisation, and creativity. As a result, organizations have begun drawing on improvisational theater skills as one answer to fill this leadership development gap.

This case study focuses …

Positive Organizational Leadership: Some Recent Findings In Positive Organizational Scholarship, Lawrence Chan

M.A. in Leadership Studies: Capstone Project Papers

The study of positivity is multifaceted, with roots across psychology, philosophy, and more recently organizational behavior (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997; 2014). This review article highlights the framework from which the study of positivity originates, and then explores positive behaviors in the workplace that have correlated to increases in fulfillment, productivity, engagement, and leadership capacity (Cameron & Dutton, 2003). This essay reveals core components of positive organizational scholarship (POS), notably the interaction of positivity within job demands and job resources, positive employee engagement, and positive deviance, and uncovers some recent findings of these POS components in empirical research and application within human resource …

Re-Imagining Business Enterprise As A Force For Social Good: Exploring Shared Values And The Future Of A Sustainable World, Regina Bernal

M.A. in Leadership Studies: Capstone Project Papers

The world is at a crossroads when it comes to understanding business models and their impact on the world and the environment. Business enterprise fuels the economy and plays a key role in society. However, business enterprise has also been in the spotlight recently due to the damages it has inflicted on society and the environment. We have finite resources on this earth and “business as usual” will no longer suffice for 21st century business models. Companies and leaders are called to re-imagine different business models that integrate a more holistic view of profit, humanity, and the potential for business …

An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Leadership Style And Lean Expressed Through Respect, Proactivity, And Innovative Work Behavior, Reiner Martens

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

This dissertation is based on the idea that a leadership style is necessary to implement a lean culture within an organization. This research study employed a systematic literature review, from which a lean leadership model was developed. Based on the two principles of a lean organizational culture, 1. respect for people and 2. continuous improvement, three measurable variables were identified, respect, proactivity, and innovative work behavior. These three variables were connected to the lean leadership model. Leadership styles based on the full range model of leadership were used as independent variable(s). The overarching results of this study were: (1) transformational …

Perceptions On The Advancement Of Women To Public Accounting Leadership Roles, Mylane Bella-Smuts

Senior Honors Projects

For more than 21 years, women have joined the accounting profession in equal numbers to men, yet women represent just 19% of the U.S. public accounting partner population (Bennett, 2013). This research project looks at the current environment for women in leadership positions in public accounting firms by analyzing perceptions on the work environment for women, work-life balance, and implementation effectiveness of firm initiatives related to the advancement of women. Results from one-on-one interviews and surveys suggest that the perception of the work environment for women in the public accounting profession is positive, but women’s commitment to achieving partnership status …

Analysis Of Influences Of Separation Decisions In The Financial Management Career Field, Shauna Young

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to analyze influences on separation decisions of active duty Air Force financial management officers. Researchers tested nine variables to determine their separation implications. The tested variables were major command, age, prior enlisted service, spouse, commissioning source, AFIT cost analysis master’s degrees, engagement, crystallization of job alternatives, and exhaustion. Results proved that age, prior enlisted service, having a spouse, and being an Air Force Academy or AFIT graduate correlates to whether a financial management officer will separate from the Air Force. In addition, the engagement level or having a defined list of job alternatives readily …

Ne Maquixtia: A Mixed Methods Exploration Of Leaders’ Dispositions And Their Impact On The Organizational Cultures They Lead, Georgina Yvette Garcia

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies: Doctoral Research Projects

The aim of this field-based research study was to explore and examine the importance of leader dispositions and their impact on organizational culture and sustained success. It focused on answering the following research question: What leadership dispositions, whether in education or in business, transcend organizational boundaries and most likely lead to organizational cultures that sustainably impact results and support continuous improvement?

This study spotlights the urgent need for leaders in all organizational contexts to immerse themselves in a profound and meaningful manner with developing greater awareness of the dispositions related to their leadership and the cultures they directly impact and …

It's A Dangerous World In There: Leadership Methods And Actions Of School Administrators During Emergency Situations And Times Of Crisis, James J. Drake

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Over the past twenty years, shootings and other violent incidents, acts of terrorism such as the attacks of September 11, 2001, and natural disaster events such as hurricanes or floods have occurred with increasing frequency. Situations like these pose significant challenges for school administrators when a normally-peaceful educational environment is quickly transformed by significant acts of aggression from within, or by external threats that impact the educational domain with little or no advance warning.

Contingency-based, situational leadership has proven to be effective when used in both educational and non-educational settings during normal, non-emergency periods. The purpose of this study is …

Strategies For Sustainability In Multilevel Marketing Organizations, Nicole Renea Cordell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The number of entrepreneurs in the direct sales industry has steadily increased since 2010; however, the annual turnover rate is 56%. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore multilevel marketing (MLM) entrepreneurial leadership strategies implemented to help ensure sustainability of entrepreneurial MLM businesses for longer than 5 years. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 10 entrepreneurs who maintained an MLM business more than 5 years and used a hierarchical status that required a team. The transformational leadership theory constituted the conceptual framework for researching leadership as a concept of entrepreneurship and sustainability in MLM. Data were collected …

An Exploration Of The Causes Of Success And Failure Of Managed Change, Michael Moore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Change management (CM) and organizational development are mature industries with decades of research and development. Yet, failure rates stated for organizational change initiatives remain high at 70%. This failure rate suggests that 30% of change initiatives were successful, but no reports of these successes were found in the literature. The overarching question considered the experiences of change leaders of successful CM initiatives. The conceptual framework for this research consisted of change models defined by Burke, Kotter, Schein, and others. The primary purpose of this study was to identify the strategies used by successful change leaders. 10 phone interviews with senior …

Ensuring Quality Consumer Service Encounters, Katina Robertson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Counterproductive employee behaviors are inevitable, unpredictable, and widespread in the U.S. retail industry. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore U.S. midlevel retail leadership strategies used to prevent and correct employee behaviors that sabotage quality service encounters. Gilbert's behavior engineering model, which links employee behaviors to performance, was the framework used in this study. The data-collection process comprised 7 semistructured interviews with midlevel retail leaders, online company documentation, and researcher observations and assisted in achieving methodological triangulation. Member checking ensured the accuracy of participant responses, while Moustakas' modified van Kaam method was used to guide the data …

Leadership Strategies To Reduce Employee Turnover In Luxury Hotels In China, Iwan R. Dietschi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some midlevel managers in the China's luxury hotel industry lack leadership strategies for engaging employees to reduce employee turnover. Employee turnover rates in China's hotel industry have reached the 30% mark, affecting hotels' bottom lines. This high employee turnover rate is impacting the hotels' performance, and negatively affecting the industry's profitability. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore employee engagement strategies luxury hotel industry midlevel managers apply to reduce turnover. The conceptual framework for this study was the three levels of leadership model created by Scouller. The participants in this study were 5 midlevel department managers …

Testing Matching And Mirroring With Homophily In Onboarding Leadership Socialization, Manuel Almendarez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study was designed to test the relationship between matching and mirroring (MM) and homophilous perceptions (PHM) in leadership socialization. Elevated PHM levels were hypothesized to affect workplace acceptance levels. The need for testing leadership socialization skills was magnified with the current demographic shift known as the leadership succession crisis, creating problems with onboarding strategies. The theoretical foundations of the study were based on the social identity theory, the social presence theory, the leader-member exchange theory, and the similarity-attraction paradigm. The study conducted at Workforce Solutions North Texas in Wichita Falls, Texas was sampled based on the calculated strength of …