Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

What Type Of Leadership Does Africa Need To Join The First World?, Aida Ayalew

Theses and Graduate Projects

Internal conflict and lack of leadership are becoming major prohibiting agents that are hindering African countries from economic growth and prosperity. Many countries in Africa have ethnic, racial or political conflicts that are progressing and most of these conflicts are the result of negative leadership.

Resolving internal conflict in Africa requires taking responsibility for the people and for the country. Taking responsibility requires a hard study of the effects of internal conflict, the effects of war, and other contributing factors that hinder Africa from economic growth. The only way that African countries can take charge in solving the problems of …

Founder-Leader Transitions: The Role Of Succession Planning In Nonprofit Organizations, Joanne V. Kosciolek

Theses and Graduate Projects

There are both opportunities and challenges associated with executive transitions. Succession planning is becoming an increasingly significant topic for many nonprofit organizations in the Twin Cities. The retirement of the large generation of baby-boom leaders during the next decade is likely to have a direct impact on the capacity of organizations to sustain their work. This is especially critical for smaller organizations and those with founders or long-term executive directors who leave. These leaders have shaped their organizations throughout their tenure and are seen as synonymous with their organizations. Founders and long-term executives have a strong presence and vision for …

Mentoring Relationships: An Evaluation Of The Benefits That Female Mentors Receive From A Mentoring Relationship, Lori Toborg

Theses and Graduate Projects

The term "mentor" is a commonplace word that refers to a relationship in which a senior individual with certain knowledge and expertise provides guidance and psychosocial support to a less-experienced individual. In today's world, mentoring is associated with both career and personal development. As more women fill top positions, organizations must understand the benefits of female mentors in business.

Although many researchers have examined the dynamics of the mentor-protege relationship, most research focuses on the benefits received by the protege. The benefit for mentors has gained attention recently, finally recognizing that mentoring relationships are reciprocal.

The purpose of this research …

Servant Leadership And Medical Missionaries, Jayne Arvold

Theses and Graduate Projects

Medical missionaries provide benevolent medical services to underserved people internationally. This exploratory research was conducted to examine whether medical missionaries demonstrate the ten behavioral characteristics of servant leaders as outlined by Larry Spears, president and CEO of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. The characteristics are listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of others, and building communities. Qualitative data from interviews with four medical missionaries supported that Spear's ten characteristics are evident among this group of people. Analysis of these characteristics highlights their importance in the leadership of medical missionary work. This study provides …

Collaborative Leadership And The Design Of A School-Based Chemical Health Service System, Susan K. Hedlund

Theses and Graduate Projects

This work-related project used strategies of collaborative leadership behavior to facilitate the design and implementation of a county-wide, comprehensive, and coordinated school-based chemical health service system. People involved in the design included representatives from school districts, county government departments, chemical dependency treatment agencies, nonprofit organizations, and a parent. The goal of this project was to create an effective, sustainable, and cohesive collaboration through the use of a facilitation process that illustrated the principles of collaborative leadership. The project demonstrated that interagency collaboration, along with effective leadership skills, can be successful in achieving meaningful system change that benefits adolescents and their …

Effective Training Workshop Design: A Focus On Improving The Effectiveness Of Teams, Joni Marti

Theses and Graduate Projects

Organizations spend billions of dollars a year training their employees, yet most of this is wasted due to poorly designed training. Inappropriate time allotments, lack of management and organizational support, and ill-suited methods for adult learners all contribute to this waste.

Knowledge transfer to the workplace is the true measure of effective training, yet many corporations measure cost or hours of training completed. Organizations can be more effective by designing their training with factors that result in the greatest impact on the adult learner. Based on current literature on adult education these key factors are a modular format, interactive delivery …

Effects Of Information Flow On People-Driven Processes Within A Remote-Based Field Staff, James M. Hennen

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study examines the potential of open information flow in leading autonomous and decentralized field staffs. Research questions focus on participant perceptions of access to useful information and whether a participant's more positive organizational outlook compared favorably to their actual process performance. A chaotic model of people-driven processes formed the framework that explored these effects. A set of perception-based questions centered on the goals, roles, processes, and relationships held within a field organization created the model's structure. An assessment tool collected participant self-reported views of their organization and compared them to the high and low participant performance groups of four …