Leadership Studies Commons^™

The Creation And Implementation Of Interprofessional Simulation Leadership Scenarios, Angeline C. Delucas

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Healthcare is in a historical state of change creating an era that requires superior leadership skills. Leaders face burgeoning challenges in a competitive environment ensconced in reform. Today’s dynamic healthcare environment demands that nurse and interprofessional leaders be astute in a variety of areas including: fiscal responsibility and accountability, organizational politics, interpersonal skills, human resources, communication, conflict resolution, and emotional intelligence. Some areas such as fiscal management are considered hard skills, or skills which can be taught, while others such as conflict resolution are referred to as soft skills, or skills that are learned through experience. Though soft …

Managing The Veterinary Clinic Enterprise, Shelby N. Smyly

Animal Science

This document serves as a guideline for the student management of the Veterinary Clinic Enterprise.

A Need For A Sales Course In Academia, Kevin H. Scholz

Professional Projects

Nearly 50% of all college graduates entering the workforce, after earning a business related degree, find themselves initially in a sales role. With only 4.8% of colleges and universities offering a sales course, are the vast majority of recent graduates entering the workforce prepared for a sales role? This exploratory study seeks the feedback of hiring managers in the field to bring awareness to faculty members involved with course selection and academic curriculum design for the purpose of encouraging colleges and universities to consider a sales course. The study provides learning objectives and competencies for a sales course based on …

Innovation And Self-Leadership: The Effects Of Self-Leadership Knowledge On The Innovation Landscape, Lynn Eliason

Professional Projects

The open innovation landscape of today allows any individual the ability to work, use their creative ideas, and receive external ideas for innovation. Innovators are no longer the chosen few behind closed doors who are at the right level in an organization, at the right place, and at the right time. The open innovation environment requires individuals who are self-leaders with the skills and abilities to lead innovation projects. This study explores how the organizational position of individuals can affect how they feel about innovation and their perception of their innovative abilities. This information can help to guide organizations on …

Understanding Volunteerism In An Animal Shelter Environment: Improving Volunteer Retention, Rebecca Davis

Professional Projects

Volunteers are an essential part of any nonprofit organization. In many cases, volunteers play a vital role in the success of the organization in which they serve. Specifically, this paper focuses on the volunteers serving animal shelters: a place that does not always have a positive outcome for the animals. This research serves as a vehicle to determine what encourages people to begin volunteering in such an emotional setting and what motivates them to continue to share their time in the facility. The study serves to aid in the development of a volunteer program at the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal …

An Investigation Of Key Factors Impacting Front-Line Service Providers' Efforts To Deliver A Quality Customer Experience, Donna Wells

Professional Projects

The relevance of competitive differentiation for any business that strives to achieve success is undeniable. An awareness of how to best satisfy the customer is instrumental in helping a company to distinguish itself from the competition. Service firms in particular realize that the customer’s perception of service quality can prove to be a valuable asset in the quest for customer satisfaction and retention. In the customer’s eyes, evaluation of the service experience as satisfying or less than satisfying is largely dependent upon the treatment extended by frontline employees during the face-to-face service encounter. The aim of this qualitative study was …

"We Don't Have Any Of Those:" Looking For Leaders In The Horizontal Structure Of Occupy Portland, Aaron Martin Bach

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis documents and examines Occupy Portland's organizational structure and the impact of this structure on the leadership roles of participants. Interviews with key activists and participant observation reveal that the ideologically influenced horizontal organization employed by the movement disrupts the emergence of centralized authority and charismatic leadership. This, in turn, encourages the rise of a "distributed leadership" comprised of multiple, task driven leaders. It finds that these task-oriented leaders within Occupy Portland tend to fulfill three specific leadership roles; the facilitation of process, the construction of movement structures, and the organization of actions. This study provides an exploration of …

Exploring The Impact On Students Of Western Universities On Foreign Soil: A Case Study Of Qatar, Richard Bakken Phd

Dissertations

The development of branch campuses in higher education is not a new phenomenon. Over the past decades, however, branch campuses have expanded throughout the world as Western universities have begun to deliver their programs and course offerings in countries that expect the West to provide educational (and, by implication, economic) success. Middle Eastern countries in particular have rapidly expanded the number of Western-style branch campuses for native students in their countries. This qualitative research study focused on one specific Middle Eastern country, Qatar, and explored how native students respond to attending a Western university that has been transplanted from the …

Shared Leadership In Higher Education: A Phenomenological Case-Study Of The Impact Of Shared Leadership On The Admission And Transfer Staff At A Regional Comprehensive State University, Christopher William Fox Ma

All Student Scholarship

This exploratory research project was structured as a case study which sought to analyze the impact on relevant staff members of a comprehensive public university of a shared leadership model being applied to a transfer student recruitment program.

What Are The Key Competencies, Qualities, And Attributes Of The African American Municipal Police Chief?, Patrick Oliver

Faculty Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to identify and understand the dimensions of leadership of those African Americans, who are effective as the chief executive officer (CEO) of a municipal law enforcement agency, and thereby to educate and inform both those aspiring to be police chiefs and those presently serving as police chiefs, particularly African Americans. Four content areas were examined to gain a better understanding of the research question: (1) Police executive leadership literature; (2) African American leadership; (3) The trait theory of leadership; (4) emotional intelligence. Study participants were all African American police chiefs with the expertise and …

Changes In Leadership Self-Efficacy, Leader Identity, Capacity For Socially Responsible Leadership, And Curiosity Due To A Structured Leader Development Program, Lori K. Pyle

Dissertations, 2014-2019

As the study of leadership evolves, it is vital to consider adult development; specifically student leadership development. This study examined changes over time in undergraduate students’ leadership self-efficacy, leader identity, and socially responsible leadership capacity. As a component of motivation to learn, curiosity breadth and depth were included to explore how the “positive approach to new information” relates to individual leader growth. This research helps explain how leader identity fits into a student leader development model as an outcome and as a contributor to future leader identity growth and engagement with leadership tasks. A combination of longitudinal and cross-sectional designs …

Managerial Competencies And Exemplary Leadership In The Lodging Industry: An Empirical Study, Fadila Maraouch

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

In facing the rising demand for improved quality, reduced costs, and constant innovation, the need to continuously upgrade knowledge, skills, and abilities is essential for all leadership roles including those held by executives, managers, and supervisors (Kay & Russette, 2000; Mirabile, 1997; Okeiyi, Finley, & Postel, 1994; Sandwith, 1993; Tas, 1988; Tas, LaBreque, & Clayton, 1996). With management scholars racing to meet this demand, competency modeling has become one of the most frequently used techniques to help organizations profile jobs, select, as well as prepare the right person for the right leadership position (Katz, 1955; Sandwith, 1993).

Under the …

Gambling In San Diego County: A Case Study, Michael Kelley Phd

Dissertations

Legal gambling operations in the United States are based on public policy decisions. Although research has shown that gambling intensity levels are related to a number of individual disorders and impose significant economic costs on society, the data is incomplete. For example, while research indicates that certain demographic categories and proximity to places of gambling are predictors of high gambling rates, there is little information on the impact of economic conditions on gambling intensity, as well as the prevalence of such behavior in specific locations. With multiple gambling venues, a growing population of the demographic groups associated with higher gambling …

Work/Life Boundary Management In An Integrative Environment: A Study Of Residence Life Professionals Who Live At Their Place Of Work, Pressley Robinson Rankin Iv Phd

Dissertations

How individuals manage work/life boundaries when they live at the place they work, as opposed to working from home, is a gap in both work/life literature and in higher education literature. An obvious example from higher education is the resident life professional that lives in the residential facility that she or he oversees. Living in a residential facility creates challenges to boundary creation. The job requirements; pressures from students and staff; supervisor expectations, both spoken and unspoken; and the physical location of their home within the building creates a highly boundary integrative environment making the establishment of boundaries difficult. The …

Cultivating Compassion In Undergraduate College Students: Rhetoric Or Reality?, Michael Lovette-Colyer Phd

Dissertations

While American colleges and universities are unparalleled in their ability to produce disciplinary-based knowledge through research and scholarship, their ability to encourage students to use the information and methods about which they are learning to create positive social change has lagged. Aware of the magnitude of today's global issues and dissatisfied with the current disparity between the world's reality and university curricula, scholars have begun to re-imagine the role of higher education in forming the leaders who will face our most pressing problems. Founded to provide education integrated with the formation of values, a significant number of Catholic colleges and …

Exploring The Paradoxical Role And Experience Of Fallback In Developmental Theory, Valerie Townsend Livesay Phd

Dissertations

Constructive-development and stage development theory, which posits that individuals move through different stages or action logics throughout life, has been the foundation for several models of human transformation. The literature on the leading stage theories indicates that research has focused on exploring stages and their behavioral correlates, but little work has been done on how individuals move between stages. Stage theory has primarily been conceived of as a linear and unidirectional transition from one stage to the next, which encompasses earlier stages, however emerging research has revealed that stage transition may be more fluid and bi-directional than originally thought and …

Leadership For Innovation In The Memories Business: A Mixed Methods Study Of A Hospitality And Tourism Marketplace, Lori J. Sipe Phd

Dissertations

In the past 35 years, substantial research has been conducted examining innovation in the business environment. Despite the vast quantity of innovation studies, a large percentage of the contributions are focused on product innovation outputs in manufacturing, while innovation theory in the services industry is still struggling to emerge. The hospitality and tourism industry is one of the largest service industries in the world. In this industry context, innovation is less about producing new things and more about delivering unique experiences to create lasting memories. The purpose of this study was to extend the work already done regarding innovation in …

A Comparison Of Predictors Of Student Grades In Online And Face-To-Face Community College Courses, Pamela Kay Wright Edd

Dissertations

There is an increased demand for online course offerings in community colleges while there is also an increased demand for college accountability. Many analyses examine persistence and completion rates as indicators of student success. This analysis focuses on grade outcomes. Although this traditional view of success is somewhat narrow, it will provide a starting point for an examination of online student success. This study examines to what extent the academic success of online and face-to-face course takers can be explained by student demographics, financial aid status, educational goals, and select high school performance measures. It, then, explores similarities and differences …

Coaching Teachers On Instruction: Developing Instructional Leadership Capacity Within A Principal Preparation Program, John J. Franey Phd

Dissertations

Over the last several decades, the role of the school site principal has shifted from a focus on school management to one on school leadership. Integral to this new focus is the ability of the principal to be an instructional leader, tasked with improving the instructional practices of teachers. Many principal preparation programs have adopted new methods to support aspiring school leaders including the development of effective coaching skills. This qualitative study examined one principal preparation program designed with this goal in mind. The primary research questions that guided this study were: (a) How does the coaching program support the …

Performance Assessment For Quality Teaching: Three Critical Variables For Measuring And Improving Teaching And Learning, Kathleen L. Gallagher Phd

Dissertations

While outstanding teachers are any school system's most important investment, assessing the quality of instructional practice has proven to be an ongoing challenge for the profession. Despite assertions that effective teachers are the single most important school-related factor responsible for increased learning, no teacher's employment is dependent on their performance in the classroom or the quality of instruction that they provide. This problem has fueled a growing mistrust in school districts nationwide, specifically in the area of teacher evaluation. One possible explanation is that the profession lacks the scaled level of expertise needed to evaluate instruction consistently and in a …

Accounting For The Attrition Of African American Males In An Academic Support Setting, Ronald R. Lancia Phd

Dissertations

This dissertation addresses a continuing crisis in our nation's education system. Historically African American students have underperformed academically. This achievement gap is particularly pronounced for African American males. AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), an academic support program for underachieving students, most recently created the African American Male Initiative (AAMI). The AAMI was designed specifically to respond to the needs of black males. Despite its efforts, the AAMI has had a difficult time attracting and retaining black male participants. The purpose of this study was to better understand why African American high school males are not choosing to participate in the …

Data-Driven Decision Making: Teachers' Use Of Data In The Classroom, Tammy Wu Moriarty Phd

Dissertations

Data-driven decision making has become an important educational issue in the United States, primarily because of federal and state emphasis on school accountability and achievement. Data use has been highlighted as a key factor in monitoring student progress and informing decision making at various levels of the education system. Federal and state policies require educators to use data to inform decision making and the assumption is that educators already know how to analyze, interpret, and use data to make informed decisions. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of classroom teachers' engagement in data-driven decision making …

Rural Catholic Schools: Can They Be Saved?, Chad Abler

Professional Projects

This research project examined the numerous factors affecting rural Catholic grade schools in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and their ability to remain a viable educational option for families of rural communities in Southeastern Wisconsin. The literature review provides the history of Catholic education in the United States and details how changing demographics over the past 40 to 50 years within the Catholic population provides significant challenges for this educational model to continue in any geographic setting--inner city, urban, suburban, or rural. The use of interviews assisted with gathering qualitative data to understand the challenges facing the four rural Catholic …

Social Media Marketing: How Social Media Has Impacted The Gender Differences That Exist Amongst Sports Fans, And Its Effect Of Marketers, Timothy French

Professional Projects

This professional research study accessed the current relationship between season ticket holders of Marquette University men’s college basketball team and usage of social media. A survey was created based on a modification of the Sport Spectator Identification Scale (or SSIS) as well as the Sport Fandom Questionnaire (or SFQ), and included specific questions related to the individual’s demographics, social media usage, and experience attending collegiate basketball games. Despite the fact that females are continuing to have an increasing presence in the vast world of sports, marketers and organizations continue to place a strong focus on the needs, interests, and desires …

Influences Of Instructionally Planned Experiential Learning Strategies On Student Perceptions Of Learning, Katherine L. Friesen

Professional Projects

Research in leadership and education reveals consensus among educators that leadership can be taught. Educators are exploring how leadership should be taught believing that students learn best from personal experiences. Experiential learning provides an instructional framework for student centered learning grounded in student experiences and course content. The purpose of the study is to qualitatively assess the degree to which experiential learning in undergraduate leadership courses, facilitated by faculty planning, influences the perception of student learning. Using a phenomenological research method, one interview with the instructor of an undergraduate leadership course at a private, Midwestern four-year university was conducted about …

Elder Selection: Engaging The Monterey Church Of Christ In A Collaborative Elder Selection Process, Benjamin D. Pickett

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the outcomes of a project intended to foster greater collaboration at the Monterey Church of Christ in its selection of elders. The intervention involved the engagement of the Monterey Church in a process that involved multiple steps. These steps involved engagement with teachers in the context of a teacher training seminar, with Bible classes in a series of Bible lessons, and with elders, elder nominees, and their spouses in order to discern the perceived degree to which Monterey members participate in the elder selection process. The Bible lessons presented an alternative model for theological …

Belonging, Believing, Being: A Journey Toward Social Justice, Stacey Lynn Williams

School of Leadership and Education Sciences Dissertations

Using Participatory Action Research, this study examined the student and staff’s experience of exploring social justice at the University of San Diego’s Women’s Center. Looking specifically at how the Center shaped the way that we understand and take up social justice, the inquiry examines our understanding and approach to our learning. Through artistic expression and dialogue, the research utilized a participatory approach that offers learning for both those interested justice and those committed to collaborative research models. I offer reflections about my own practice as an educator while sharing insights from participants in terms of the work of pursuing a …

Belonging, Believing, Being: A Journey Toward Social Justice, Stacey Lynn Williams

Theses

Using Participatory Action Research, this study examined the student and staff’s experience of exploring social justice at the University of San Diego’s Women’s Center. Looking specifically at how the Center shaped the way that we understand and take up social justice, the inquiry examines our understanding and approach to our learning. Through artistic expression and dialogue, the research utilized a participatory approach that offers learning for both those interested justice and those committed to collaborative research models. I offer reflections about my own practice as an educator while sharing insights from participants in terms of the work of pursuing a …

Leadership Strategies That Foster Innovation And Creattvity In 21st Century Organizations, Patricia Dianne Carlson

Theses and Graduate Projects

In an increasingly change-driven world, leaders are called upon to evolve their mindsets and skill-sets to reflect and serve the demands for innovation that characterize the 2Ist century. In this research, I examined the leadership strategies that foster innovation and creativity as a stimulus for sustained competitive advantage in organizations. Creativity without innovation in an organization is a wasted effort. However, without creative ideas there is nothing to promote, feed and develop the innovation process. I focus on three critical questions: What type of organizational climate fosters innovation and creativity? What is leadership's role in fostering innovation and creativity? What …

Narratives Of The Leadership Development Of Adults Who Served As Summer Camp Staff In The Mennonite Setting : A Multiple Case Study, Jason Harrison

Dissertations

Problem. Leaders today need a new set of knowledge and skills to be effective in collaborative environments. The focus of this study was to investigate how collaborative environments can contribute to leadership development. The purpose of this study was to describe how the collaborative environment of summer camp helped shape emerging adults as leaders. The summer camp setting is inherently collaborative and, therefore, can inform and develop leaders for future collaborative settings. The research question in focus for this study was, How do adults who served at a summer camp as emerging adults describe the experiences that helped shape them …