Leadership Studies Commons^™

Understanding Ethical Leadership In Intelligence: Themes In Accountability, Self-Development, And Communication Among Cia Leaders, Caroline Walsh

Dissertations

This dissertation elucidates the concept of ethical leadership within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Based on interviews with ten former senior-level officers from across different departments, the study analyzes how these leaders understand issues of accountability, self-development, and communication. The research also provides insights into their processes of sense-making and their methodologies for fostering ethical conduct amidst the complexities of intelligence operations.

Against the backdrop of the CIA's mission, structure, and norms, the study sheds light on the challenges and tensions inherent in the organization's operations. Through a thematic analysis of participant narratives, themes of moral cognition, personal values, and …

Intercultural Perspectives On Managing Organizational Change In Response To Government Policy Reform: A Case Study On The Leadership Of New Oriental Education, Yihe Yang

Dissertations

In 2021, a policy aimed at addressing educational inequality triggered a significant upheaval in the private tutoring sector of China by fundamentally transforming prevailing business models and financial viability within the industry. New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (New Oriental Education), one of the preeminent private tutoring enterprises in China, attracted considerable attention for its subsequent organizational change. This study explored the leadership dynamics and organizational change efforts implemented by New Oriental after the policy enactment.

The theoretical framework synthesized organizational change theory, organizational culture, and transformative leadership approaches from both Western and Chinese perspectives. It elucidated effective practices …

Unified In Christ, David Morris

Doctor of Ministry Projects and Theses

Statement of the Question/Problem

The United Methodist Church is facing a season of incredible struggle. The modern American United Methodist Church is facing a crisis of Division during this season of disaffiliation and restructuring. Division within church is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it is not new in the Methodist tradition. This repeating cycle of denominational fracture begs the question, “why does division in the church happen, and how can we avoid it in the future?” Currently the United Methodist Church is dividing supposedly over the issue of human sexuality. I would argue these divisions do not solely rely …

Sexual Exploitation: The Crisis And Eradicative Solution, Tonnie Adams Bracey

Student Capstone Projects

French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” I find this to be true in our current era of the digital age. Although technology has gifted a newly improved and vast method of making worldwide connections and broadening our perceptions and views, a change in how we communicate has conveniently presented itself, but the historic pattern of how we handle these new advancements have indeed stayed the same.
Smart phones are a mainstream vessel employing the world with a plethora of information while giving all sorts of people access to individual’s lives …

Ennobling Each Other Through Collaborative Inquiry: Exploring Music As A Provocation For Leadership Development, Ihan Ip

Dissertations

Amid the challenges in a global village, leadership education needs to surpass traditional methods, nurturing creativity, flexibility, and adaptability. This study is a collaborative action inquiry that considers music as an arts-based method in service of leadership development. The study unfolded over five cycles, in which 14 coinquirers collaborated in a process of exploration. The study illuminates the strong potential of music as a provocation for leadership development and reveals crucial realizations in the area of facilitation in collective processes.

This dissertation tells the story of the inquiry with the voices of its coinquirers and offers insights on facilitation through …

Harnessing The Power Of Cliftonstrengths®: How Multinational Corporations Can Use Deep-Level Diversity To Enhance Organizational Inclusion, Trapper Kay Pace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research explicitly investigated how multinational corporations can enhance workplace inclusion through the novel use of the CliftonStrengths® assessment as a dimension of deep-level diversity. The study gleaned insights from employees’ perspectives, employing a constructivist grounded theory approach to explicate their experiences in rich qualitative narratives. Through open-ended surveys and intensive interviews, participants were selected using purposeful sampling to ensure meaningful data collection from the study organizations’ three global regions. The researcher conducted the analysis systematically through the constant comparison of data utilizing the NVivo14 software to assist in constructing codes, themes, and a theoretical schema. Results highlighted the significance …

Nonprofit Leader Experiences In Sector-Bending After Lean Six Sigma Training: Tension, Concepts, And Changed Behaviors, Beverly Codallos

Dissertations

Government, business, and nonprofit represent three distinct types of organizations governed by different legal frameworks designed to facilitate collective action (DiMaggio & Anheier, 1990). The emergence of hybrid forms and increasing isomorphic pressures in the nonprofit sector (Bromley & Meyer, 2017; McCambridge, 2014) have challenged the traditional separation of organizational forms. This study explored the phenomenon popularized as sector-bending, “a wide variety of approaches, activities, and relationships that are blurring the distinctions between nonprofit and for-profit organizations, either because they are behaving more similarly, operating in the same realms, or both” (Dees & Anderson, 2003, pg. 16). This qualitative study …

Portraits Of Hispanic And/Or Latino Leadership Development In The Military, Michael Lugo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The study presented denotes a continuous transition among the Hispanic and/or Latino demographics in the military and the cadet accounts of military inequality incidents while in the military (Cabrera et al., 2017; Eckel & King, 2004). To assist Hispanic and/or Latino needs based on demographics and environment (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019). Military leaders contribute to growing a diverse, inclusive, and equitable military force for all ethnic groups. The Department of Defense (DoD) is the most racially and ethnically diverse workplace in the United States (Daniel et al., 2022). Nevertheless, racial/ethnic harassment and discrimination in the military continue …

The Role Of Organizational Leadership In The Success Of Higher Education Institutions: A Portraiture Study On Ashesi University In Ghana, Amanda Childress-Kannan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research shows that higher education institutions in sub-Saharan Africa are severely under-resourced, systemically lack strong leadership, have low enrollment numbers, lack scholarly productivity, and have high rates of attrition and turnover of students and faculty. Higher education institutions in sub-Saharan Africa do not compete well globally, with low research productivity and failure to retain top scholars. Higher education institutions in Ghana are particularly facing this problem: Ghana has a relatively stable government, society, and economy, with less corruption and other malfeasance as compared to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Even with these advantages, Ghana generally fails to establish and maintain …

Containerization Of Seafarers In The International Shipping Industry: Contemporary Seamanship, Maritime Social Infrastructures, And Mobility Politics Of Global Logistics, Liang Wu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation discusses the mobility politics of container shipping and argues that technological development, political-economic order, and social infrastructure co-produce one another. Containerization, the use of standardized containers to carry cargo across modes of transportation that is said to have revolutionized and globalized international trade since the late 1950s, has served to expand and extend the power of international coalitions of states and corporations to control the movements of commodities (shipments) and labor (seafarers). The advent and development of containerization was driven by a sociotechnical imaginary and international social contract of seamless shipping and cargo flows. In practice, this liberal, …

Developing An Instrument To Measure Group Dynamics Awareness: A Mixed Methods Study, John Weng

Dissertations

In a world that is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous, adaptive leaders are needed more than ever. Based on group relations programs developed by the Tavistock Institute, a pedagogy known as case-in-point has recently been brought to prominence and incorporated into leadership development programs. These methods claim to develop systems thinking and individuals’ leadership capacity with little prior empirical research.

This mixed methods exploratory study explored individual awareness of group dynamics, a key outcome in case-in-point programs, and adaptive leadership theory. The goal was to create an instrument to measure awareness of group dynamics: the Group Dynamics Awareness Questionnaire …

Leadership In Startups: How Founder Personality And Leadership Behaviors Impact Startup Success And Psychological Safety, Ria Passi, Ronald Riggio

CMC Senior Theses

New ventures created by entrepreneurs are crucial to the economy and to the diffusion of innovative technologies. However, startups often operate in highly uncertain environments characterized by constrained resources, lack of established processes, and complex market dynamics. Despite surges in startup investment, the failure rate for new ventures remains high, making it crucial to understand the factors that can contribute to their success. This thesis explores how founder personalities, leadership styles, and cultivating psychological safety impact startup performance and growth trajectories. Founder personality traits like openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness are positively associated with securing funding, achieving exit opportunities, and overall …

Coworkers And Leaders: The Relationship Between Trustworthiness, Trust, And Employee Engagement, Lianne Young

Dissertations

A highly engaged workforce provides numerous organizational and individual benefits (Shuck et al., 2016), the culmination of which leads to a competitive advantage difficult to emulate (Burke et al., 2013). It remains challenging to understand how engagement develops, with little research available explaining the process (Shuck, 2020). High employee engagement levels provide a competitive advantage, but stagnant engagement levels remain a significant obstacle (Shuck, 2020).

Shuck (2020) recommends further research focusing on methods to increase engagement. Trustworthiness and trust are antecedents and drivers of engagement (Chughtai & Buckley, 2008; Federman, 2010; SHRM, 2017). A lack of trust has negative impacts …

Intergenerational Factors That Contribute To Millennial Church Engagement, Parker Sanderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Millennial church attendance has declined since the beginning of the new millennium. Intergenerational ambivalence has been known to contribute to this phenomenon. Through this action research, the researcher sought to determine what intergenerational factors have led to millennials’ continued or discontinued attendance within churches. A phenomenological qualitative approach centered around interviews for this study was used to determine these intergenerational factors. The sample was taken from a 1,100-member church in a major Texas metropolitan area. The goal was to help church leaders decrease relational distancing and reduce ambivalent factors to increase millennial engagement in this local congregation.

Are The Housing Staff Alright? A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Examination Of The Experiences Of On-Campus Student Housing Professionals Through The Covid-19 Pandemic, Megan J. Chibanga

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

College and university housing professionals served a role they were generally underprepared for as long-term crisis managers during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted and shifted higher education operating structures on a grand scale, and housing staff were asked to continue operating on-campus housing facilities throughout the ever-changing response to COVID-19. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of housing professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the collective experiences of 21 participants three major threads emerged: comfort in the unknown, a need for connection and community, and relentless resilience. Each of these …

Teacher Perceptions On The Sustainability Of Trauma-Informed Practices In A Delaware School, Joy Elaine Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore teacher perceptions about the sustainability of trauma-informed practices implementation in a secondary, public comprehensive school. For the purpose of this study, the researcher examined perceptions of 10 staff members who have knowledge of and experience with implanting trauma-informed practices into their school routine. The findings from this study can be used by teachers, support staff, school leaders, and district leaders to help sustain an institutional application and implementation of trauma-informed care in schools. The implication from this study suggests resources for school staff to successfully sustain trauma-informed care.

Police Officers’ Perspectives On The Death Of George Floyd By Minneapolis Police Officers: A Descriptive Study, Janet Henderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On May 25, 2020, four Minneapolis police officers reported to the location where an African American man had been accused of trying to use a counterfeit $20 bill in a convenience store. After being taken outside of the store, the man, George Floyd, was eventually placed in the back of a police patrol car, after he was handcuffed. Saying he was claustrophobic and resisting arrest, Mr. Floyd was removed from the patrol car, and placed on the ground on his stomach. One of the patrol officers, the most senior officer present, and a field training officer, placed his knee on …

Opportunity Discrimination: Resettlement Efforts Made By Ngos In The United States, Sarah Rauf

Capstone Collection

Social identity plays a key aspect in life. This research tests whether homogeneity between refugees and their host communities correlates to the immigration process and resettlement success. The analysis helps form a conclusion that people want to help those who look like themselves before those who appear more foreign. This is related to the central theories of social identity and prejudice stemming from stereotyping. Data collection comes from interviews with staff at a number of NGOs in the United States. The immigration and resettlement policies of these NGOs have been researched, and members were interviewed on the reformation of their …

Using Community Organizing Best Practices To Redesign The Dart Organizers' Institute, Anna Long

Capstone Collection

This Training-of-Trainers Course-Linked Capstone project explores three approaches to community organizing from three different scholar-practitioners. It begins with the father of grassroots organizing, Saul Alinsky’s, neighborhood-based and congregation-based approach. Alinsky’s approach is followed by Alicia Garza’s approach; Garza is the founder of the international Black Lives Matter movement. It ends with author and organizer adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy approach. This paper will synthesize all three approaches, ultimately identifying four recommended approaches to community organizing: power, motivation, emotion, and centering impacted voices. The four recommended approaches will be used to evaluate the new organizer training (Organizers’ Institute) for the Direct …

How To Drink From A Firehose: Systemic Supports For Polytechnic Chairs, Jocelyn R. Crocker

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) is centred on the Problem of Practice of the inadequate institutional supports for academic Chairs at Prairie Polytechnic (a pseudonym), a large public higher education institution in Western Canada. Chairs are pivotal for higher education institutions because they impact student, departmental, and institutional outcomes; however, the leadership development needs of Chairs are overlooked, and the limited training available for Chairs is primarily ad hoc, episodic, short-term, and self-guided. The objective of this OIP is to determine how Prairie Polytechnic can provide more effective systemic supports for Chairs. Postmodernism is used to explore the relationships between …

The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership And Attachment Theory Among Field Grade Officers In The U.S. Army, Rebecca Ochs

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine what relationship exists between U.S. Army field grade officers’ self-reported scores on the five domains of the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) (Kouzes & Posner, 2002) and their self-reported scores on the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (ECR) (Brennan et al., 1998). Methodology: This study used a correlational approach to collect quantitative data from U.S. Army field grade officers. Using the LPI, a self-report transformational leadership measurement tool developed by Kouzes and Posner (2002), that measures five domains that include: (a) model the way, (b) inspire a shared vision, (c) …

Effective Leader Development Within A Church-Planting Organization For A Changing And Chaotic World, Jeremy Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A challenge in cross-cultural church planting is developing leaders. Cross-cultural church-planting organizations like Latin American Mission (LAM; pseudonym) that lack a leadership development strategy struggle to form lasting leaders, sending missionaries with Biblical training but not leader development training. Additionally, developing leaders in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment creates specific challenges that missionaries must address. The purpose of this qualitative, Delphi method study was to investigate the leadership development perceptions and experiences among existing LAM missionaries in the regions of Latin America (Colombia, Cuba, Mexico City, Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador) to provide suggestions for improving effective leadership …

Building Up Cal Poly Global Brigades Student Group: Reflections On Designing And Implementing One Undergraduate-Led Community Info Session, Caroline Nicole Smith, Jafra D. Thomas

Kinesiology and Public Health

Intro: Global Brigades, an international non-profit organization, trains college students and other pre-professionals in community-based health promotion by mobilizing community service trips around the world, which are taught and led by local community groups. Cal Poly’s Global Brigades student group was founded in 2018, and thus far, they have carried out three annual, medically-focused brigades to Honduras (two in-person, one virtual).

Purpose: The aim of this report is to present the findings of one experiential senior project to promote Cal Poly’s Global Brigades student group^[1] (conducted January to March 2023).

Methods: The student designed material for …

Utilizing New Technologies To Measure Therapy Effectiveness For Mental And Physical Health, Jonathan Ossie

Dissertations

Mental health is quickly becoming a major policy concern, with recent data reporting increasing and disproportionately worse mental health outcomes, including anxiety, depression, increased substance abuse, and elevated suicidal ideation. One specific population that is especially high risk for these issues is the military community because military conflict, deployment stressors, and combat exposure contribute to the risk of mental health problems.

Although several pharmacological approaches have been employed to combat this epidemic, their efficacy is mixed at best, which has led to novel nonpharmacological approaches. One such approach is Operation Surf, a nonprofit that provides nature-based programs advocating the restorative …

The Right People In The Wrong System: Examining The Tension Between Nonprofit Individuals And Organizational Structure, Erin Vong

Master's Theses

Nonprofit organizations pursue missions of social good while still operating within the confines of systems of oppression, creating a tension between organizational values and operational success. Previous research focuses on the micro-level role of individuals and the macro-level role of ideologies that create these tensions for nonprofit workers in these spaces. Through a qualitative case study, this thesis seeks to uncover the meso-level role of organizational structures in the experiences of nonprofit workers. The research questions that guided this case study were (a) How does one organization present equitable working conditions for its staff? (b) How do staff at this …

Exploring The Relationship Between Nurse Supervisor’S Servant Leadership Behavior And Nursing Employee’S Self-Assessment Of Engagement And Burnout In Nigeria, Michael Otuwurunne

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Burnout is a problem among workers in Nigeria, especially among nurses (Ozumba, & Alabere, 2019). This study examined whether there was a significant relationship between the employee perception of the servant leadership behaviors of the nurse supervisor and the employee’s self-rating of burnout: exhaustion and disengagement, and servant leadership behaviors of the nurse supervisor, and engagement: vigor, dedication, and absorption. Exhaustion refers to an intensive physical, affective, and cognitive strain while disengagement refers to the distancing of oneself from one’s work, and experiencing negative attitudes toward the work object, work content, or one’s work in general (Demerouti et al., 2001). …

Impact Of Employee-Supervisor Attachment Styles On The Prevalence And Symptomatic Expression Of Secondary Traumatic Stress In Public Child Welfare Workers., Lisa Purdy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Child welfare organizations throughout the nation grapple with turnover rates estimated to be as high as 65% (e.g., CWLA, 2016; Edwards & Wideman, 2018). Turnover contributes negatively to client outcomes, organizational financial shortages, and to perpetuating stressful conditions for the child welfare workforce. One factor found to contribute to turnover within child welfare is that of secondary traumatic stress (STS). Child welfare workers are known to experience higher rates of STS than any other helping professional (Brady, 2017). However, while many risk and protective factors for secondary traumatic stress have been evaluated, there remains a gap in the literature as …

Special Education Teacher Attrition: K-12 Administrator Perspectives, Tia Alove Stevens-Hicks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Teacher attrition is a significant contributor to the teacher shortages, with preretirement attrition accounting for two thirds of all attrition. Special education teachers leave teaching at significantly higher rates than their general education peers. In addition, there is a greater demand for special education teachers due to the increase in public school students requiring special education services. As a result, many K–12 administrators and other educational leaders often fill vacant positions with unqualified or new teachers with less experience than their predecessors. Special education teachers have reported that teachers who remained in their positions reported high levels of administrative …

Developing The Food Navigator Role At Everyone's Harvest, Chase Rodriguez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Everyone’s Harvest (EH) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that operates farmers’ markets. In order to reduce hunger in Monterey County, Everyone's Harvest offers several food assistance programs for low-income people including the Market Match (MM) incentive program which matches CalFresh money, modern day food stamps, dollar for dollar. The problem is that in Monterey County 1 in 4 adults and 1 in 3 children are food insecure. The purpose of the Food Navigator (FN) at EH is to engage with the local community and connect low-income people with food assistance resources, primarily the MM program. This project was a role development …

We Don’T Have To Do All Of It Alone: A Phenomenological Study On How Mid-Level Leaders In Community Colleges Flourish Through Collaboration And Advocacy, Mackenzie Taylor Klinker Hutchins

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify and describe the formal and informal leadership development experiences of mid-level leaders promoted within Washington State Community Colleges.

Methodology: This phenomenological study identified and described the formal and informal leadership development experiences of 17 mid-level leaders promoted within Washington State Community Colleges. Respondents were purposively chosen based on specific criteria and recommendations of two expert sponsors. The researcher collected data through semi-structured interviews, where the participants provided descriptive data that would aid in answering the study’s research questions.

Findings: Analysis of the qualitative data from 17 mid-level leaders promoted within …