Leadership Studies Commons^™

A Leadership Case Study: Application Of Koestenbaum's Diamond Leadership Theory, Ann E. Paulsen

Theses and Graduate Projects

Peter Koestenbaum's Diamond Leadership Theory illustrates how a leader's greatness can be evaluated by looking at four different categories: ethics, courage, reality, and vision. According to his Diamond Leadership Theory, he stresses that all four dimensions must be equally developed and balanced, in both the personal and professional life of the leader. Koestenbaum contends that a balanced leader will show leadership skills in all aspects, not just in their professional lives.

The following research was conducted using the Diamond Leadership Theory as a foundation for studying a leader in the business world. By understanding these basic principles, the researcher was …

California African-American Infant Mortality Prevention: A Prospective Study, Clara H. Eder Edd

Dissertations

Infant mortality continues to be a significant national public health problem. African-American infant mortality in the United States remains as high as or higher than those of some developing countries. In the state of California the continuing gap between African-American and Caucasian infant mortality rates is cause for alarm among public health providers. Studies repeatedly indicate that the underlying causes of infant mortality are social, economic, environmental, cultural, political, racial and historical, though not in equal measure. Children born at a socioeconomic disadvantage have less chance of survival than have children of any particular race. To address the disproportionate gap …

Developing Leaders, Teresa Ann Cook

Theses and Graduate Projects

The following study takes a snapshot of the MAL program, describing the experience of students between 1987 and 1996. Seven students were interviewed. These students were asked to describe what motivated them, what they experienced in the master's program and what they believed were the benefits of participation. "Why Leadership?" The qualities necessary for assuring leadership are nurtured by the interdisciplinary nature of this liberal arts program. Students gain self-confidence and courage to approach new situations. Students' commitment to leadership is nurtured by study in the MAL program. The history of the development of the Master of Arts in Leadership …

Leaders In A Technologically Dispersed Work Environment, Beth A. Peroutka

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study was designed to compare leaders and their employees to determine characteristics needed to successfully succeed in a virtual work environment and to compare and contrast expectations of characteristics needed in a traditional versus a virtual office environment. These characteristics were compared with Stephen Covey's Principled Centered Leadership Model to determine if deviation in the virtual office will imply a need to change his leadership model.

Although there are differences in traditional office environments versus virtual work environment, Covey's Principled Centered Leadership Model still essentially holds true. The leadership characteristics that will apply in a virtual office environment are …

Women Entrepreneurs: Bypassing The Glass Ceiling By Building Their Own Businesses, Karen Fouks

Theses and Graduate Projects

The existence of a so-called "glass ceiling" that prevents the advancement of qualified women to the top levels of corporate management continues to be a topic for debate. An examination of this issue reveals a spectrum of viewpoints ranging from strong belief that the glass ceiling is a problem to firm denial that the glass ceiling exists. On the assumption that the phenomenon cornmonly referred to as the glass ceiling provides a description of a social problem even as its causes and effects remain open to debate, the researcher explores the options available to women who find themselves in a …

Market Values In Education: A Case Study Of Its Effect On The Principal's Model For School Governance In Alberta, Dean G. Lindquist Edd

Dissertations

Political bodies, facing, increased pressures to improve the quality of education offered to students, are shifting to a philosophy that imposes large scale market forces such as parental choice and school competition onto educational systems in order to coerce school improvement. This shift may be prompting school-based administrators to shift school governance practices to reflect these market values. This shift, occurring in Alberta (Canada), is founded in government policy that articulates the option of educational choice for parents. Presently the government policy promotes these market values in education by providing full funding to public, separate, and charter schools, and partial …

A Training Model For Teaching Peer Coaching And Self Reflection, Suzanne Wescott-Roper

Theses and Graduate Projects

This project addresses the need for teachers to study their own practices and identify effective practices for making changes and implementing new learning. It also posed a need for supporting teachers in today's changing educational system. The author researched four major areas: self reflection, portfolios, peer coaching and adult learning in a quest to learn more about techniques to encourage life long learning and continued professional development. The author then enhanced the existing peer coaching training in the Eden Prairie School district by embedding some of the new learning from the research. The major changes to the training model include …

A Systems Modeling Approach To Strategic Educational Enrollment Planning, Thomas A. Larson

Theses and Graduate Projects

This research examines the challenge leaders in higher education face as they plan for future enrollment outcomes in a transforming environment marked by changing enrollment patterns. The general principles of strategic planning provide a conceptual framework from which to address the challenges inherent in preparing for an uncertain future. Within this conceptual framework of strategic planning, systems thinking and computer modeling are offered as valuable tools to help enrollment managers effectively address the challenges of enrollment planning. Based on the principles and practices of systems thinking, a computer model outlining the enrollment process is developed. This computer model is used …

Is The Vice President Of My Work Organization A Principle-Centered Leader?, S Robert Smith

Theses and Graduate Projects

This case study focuses on the leadership theory used by the Vice President (VP) of a 500 employee organization within a large multinational corporation. The problem addressed is whether this VP is a principle-centered leader. This is a leadership theory championed by Stephen R. Covey. The Covey Leadership Center works with thousands of organizations throughout the world to educate them on principle-centered leadership. Although the available literature is limited to Covey, the similarities to ethical leadership theory are addressed in the literature review. Data collected from researcher observations experience, and interviews is evaluated against principle-centered leadership criteria. This evaluation and …

Developing A Racial Consciousness In The White Leader, Elizabeth A. Campbell

Theses and Graduate Projects

This thesis addresses how racism affects the leadership practice of the white leader in the United States. The researcher did a self-analysis of her own spiritual and psychological development, as a white leader, from birth to age 35. The researcher used her own narrative as the primary source of data. Secondary resources were used to interpret this data. The researcher argues that the United States is a nation in which social life is still largely governed by the belief in the intellectual, cultural and moral superiority of whites, or the doctrine of white supremacy.

The researcher argues further that the …

Managers Are Appointed, Leaders Emerge: How New Scientific Paradigms Inform Organizationel Leadership, Lew Beccone

Theses and Graduate Projects

For most of the 20th century the mechanistic, linear world of Newtonian science has functioned both as metaphor for thinking about organizational dynamics and as the mental model around which organizations have developed. Recently, the postclassical sciences have yielded an alternate understanding of the world, one fundamentally different from that of the Newtonian model. This paper explores a world view emerging from complexity studies and quantum physics, contrasts it with the dominant image derived from classical physics, and draws implications for organizational leadership. The lens of postclassical science challenges our fundamental ontology and reframes our views of organizational life in …

The Leadership-Mentoring Connection: An Exploration, John W. Hurst

Theses and Graduate Projects

Mentoring is a process dating back to the times of the ancient Greeks. In modern times, key mentoring activities remain unchanged: mentors guide a proteges development. Today, this development encompasses many things, including leadership. This study began as an exploration of the mentoring-leadership link. This study sought to determine how mentor and leader roles overlap, and if mentoring was significant in leadership development. The study approach was two pronged: first, a limited leadership and mentoring literature review; and second, a survey of people with mentoring-leadership experiences.

Some literature sources confirmed limited mentoring-leadership links. A few reported specific mentoring benefits with …

The "Inevitable" Recall : A Historical, Psychological And Conflict Management Style Assessment Of The Leader-Follower Relationship Between Harry S. Truman And General Douglas Macarthur During The Korean War, Nicole G. Centanni

Honors Theses

From a leadership perspective the dysfunctional relationship between President Truman and General MacArthur throughout the Korean conflict serves as an explicit reminder of the importance in developing functional leader-follower relations in any given context. Based on a general historical account of the Korean War up to the point of MacArthur's dismissal, this research will attempt to provide an understanding of the dysfunctional professional and personal relationships that existed between the President and the General. The focus of this research will begin by outlining all pertinent historical facts relating to the developing conflict between Truman and MacArthur during the Korean War. …

The Art Of Teaching Leadership, Julie Cors, Carrie Greenlee

Honors Theses

Twenty years ago, James MacGregor Burns' Leadership refocused the world's attention on a remarkable academic endeavor, the study of leadership. Burns views of leadership as a complex process which raises both leaders and followers to a higher moral plane. It is a process in which the role of the follower is as critical as that of the leader and which is framed and influenced by its context or situation. While the word itself defies definition, leadership, as a process of leader-follower relations, can be studied and learned. Through such study, people are better able to understand the complexities of the …

Reflections Of Reflections Of Reflections: A Multi-Case Study Of Women Educators' Callings To The High Arctic, Judith Knapp Edd

Dissertations

This study examines the stories of six women educators who were called to teach in remote Aboriginal communities in the Northwest Territories, Canada, from 1970 to 1985. Placed within a historical context, I set out to understand what called each educator to teach in a cultural context so different from her own in Canada's Arctic. In order to arrive at a deeper, more intrinsic understanding of her career decisions, I explored each educators calling through three, increasingly deeper levels of reflection. In Reflections, as “in an instance of reflecting,” I explored each participant's call to teach, specifically her calling to …

Observing The Spirit Of Resilience: The Relationship Between Life Experiences And Success In Higher Education For African-American Students, Cheryl Getz Edd

Dissertations

Some African American students with challenging early life experiences appear vulnerable to failure in higher education. This vulnerability may be exacerbated when educators fail to recognize the relationship between the life experiences of African American students and their academic performance and college success. African American students are challenged further as they attempt to successfully adjust to collegiate environments which often do not validate them or their experiences. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate this challenge with selected African American students, to learn about how the life experiences of African American students can enhance their success in higher …

The Role Of The Site Facilitator In The New Directions In Distance Learning Project, Isabel Ries Edd

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the roles and responsibilities of site facilitators in successful New Directions in Distance Learning (NDDL) project school sites, to learn with whom site facilitators communicate within and outside their working environments, and to discover with whom they build working relationships. E-mail questionnaires and two sets of telephone interviews generated the research data from six site facilitators and three teacher-mentors who worked at eight New Directions in Distance Learning (NDDL) school sites located throughout British Columbia. Indicators of success for an NDDL site included participation in the NDDL project with minimal technical difficulties …

Characteristics Of Leaders Of Effective Rehabilitation Teams In Skilled Nursing Facilities, Kirsten K. Ness

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of leaders who manage effective rehabilitation teams in skilled nursing facilities. The subjects were 51 rehabilitation professionals employed by a rehabilitation company in the Midwest. Subjects rated their self selected leaders on the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Bass & Avolio, 1995), and made qualitative comments about their leader on an attached page. Data were analyzed to determine the organizational relationship between the leader and rater. Leadership characteristics were identified by the choices of the raters on the MLQ. The data show that the rehabilitation professionals in this sample population selected a leader …

Toward Cooperative Ethics: A Ricoeurian Reading Of The Educational Aim Of Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta Founder Of The Mondragon Cooperatives, Virgil Lorenzo Edd

Dissertations

Paul Ricoeur and Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta were contemporaries whose separate works, when brought side by side, provide insights into how community development might proceed at the intersection of the domains of ethics, politics, and economics. In complementary ways they have addressed the reciprocal responsibilities of a society toward its citizens and vice-versa. In this study I make note of the parallels between Ricoeur's definition of the ethical aim and Arizmendiarrieta's educational aim as this may be gleaned from an anthology of his sayings as well as from statements of those who knew him very well. These similarities provide impetus toward …

The Role And Impact Of Leaders' Mental Models In Effecting Planned Transformational Change, Stephen C. Rathmill

Educational Studies Dissertations

Presidents and CEOs play a critical role in leading their organizations through planned transformational change (PTC) and generally, do not do it very well. This may, in part, be a result of leaders not closely examining and challenging their thinking about PTC and their role in leading it. Leaders' mental models determine what and how they think about their organizations, employees, transformational change and what their leadership means and how their mental models determine their actions and behaviors in planning and implementing PTC. By examining and challenging their mental models, leaders may gain insights into alternative ways of leading and …

A Model Leadership Training Program For Small Business Entrepreneurs In Taiwan, Chi-Mei Mai

All Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project was to develop a model leadership training program for small business entrepreneurs in Taiwan. To accomplish this purpose, a review of current literature regarding leadership development was conducted. Additionally, related information from selected model leadership training programs was obtained and analyzed.

The Effects Of Leadership Style And Sex-Role Deviation Of Female Leaders On Perceptions Of Leader Effectiveness, Leader Satisfaction, And Task Satisfaction, Kathie Lynne Pelletier

Theses Digitization Project

No abstract provided.

A Theoretical Perspective Of Factors That Relate To The Functional Independence Of Mature Adults, Richard N. Ashden Edd,Dc

Dissertations

Limitations of policy makers and health care providers understanding about living conditions in later adulthood continually constrains mature adults from doing more for themselves, and society. These circumstances move society to devalue mature adults. Less valued mature adults tend to become even more dependent, that is, increasingly less willing to care for themselves, and less able to contribute to the social good. As a result, a vicious cycle was created, and it caused mature adults to live lower quality lives, and become increasingly dependent on others. To empower mature adults in later life, this study does the preliminary work to …

An Analysis Of The Pedagogical Methods Of Hindu Gurus, Pearl Anjanee Gyan Edd

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the pedagogical methods of Hindu gurus that could be applicable to elementary school teaching for the inner development of students. With severe cutbacks to classroom instruction and demands by economic, political, and educational leaders for education to produce a highly skilled work force for the future of the economy, teachers are forced to use precision teaching for measurable learning. The review of the literature in this study presented a historiography of Western pedagogical methods. It showed how Western teaching methods have been defined by the seventeenth-century Newtonian objectivistic-reductionistic-mechanistic paradigm and later enforced …

Collaborative Teaching Practices For A New Century: A Descriptive Case Study Of Peer Coaching, Nance Maguire Edd

Dissertations

No longer is it appropriate for educators to come together as a group to "learn" a new skill and return to their classrooms to practice it in isolation. In the past, staff development programs have focused on development of a singular skill with teachers practicing it in isolation. The teaching and learning process can better be developed through collaboration. In order for this to happen effective teachers must be able to create effective interactive relationships with their peers. Hence, the practice and art of teaching ceases to be an individual enterprise; becoming instead a collaborative enterprise. Peer coaching is one …

Identification Of Core Multidisciplinary Competencies In An Integrated Public Health And Human Service System, Brian Winslow Thomas Moffitt Edd

Dissertations

In response to economic, legislative and social forces, public health and human service systems are becoming more integrative, requiring direct service practitioners to acquire new competencies to successfully perform in these new settings. In a review of the literature, competencies pertaining to team effectiveness, interprofessional collaboration and cross-functional knowledge and skills all appear to be relevant considerations. Moreover, an examination of competencies must consider individual, team and organizational dimensions in a context of health and welfare reform. However, the current literature is fragmented, limited in scope and empirically inconclusive. A descriptive, qualitative study was therefore warranted. The following research question …

Designing Organizations For Successful Corporate Brands, Kay Roberts

Theses and Graduate Projects

Organizational strategies for effective brand management programs result in an organizationrs ability to build brand equity. This study develops a conceptual model of brand and of the need for effective leadership and communication in estahlishing a clear connection between organizational effectiveness and the issue of hrand management. While brand programs have been primarily directed from the marketing and communication departments for the benefit of external audiences, this research shows that significant effort must be made to include other areas of the organization in branding efforts so as to leverage potential organizational strategies that will enhance brand-building organizational initiatives. Through strategies, …

For Black Leaders : A Study Of West African And African-American Leadership, Markita M. Boney

Honors Theses

Ninety-two years ago WEB DuBois wrote, "The Problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the Color Line." This line is not just one experiences by blacks or merely a problem for the United States, but, rather, a problem the entire world faces. Many events in this century have supported his statement. However, I feel that the problem for Black America is the lack of intellectual and spiritual leadership within our community.

Leadership: A Cultural Manifestation Of Evolution, Lee A. Scott

Honors Theses

This essay has sought to expand the perspective of leadership studies by incorporating the general theory of evolution from the discipline of biology. Evolution has been compared to leadership by other researchers but they have limited themselves to a metaphorical comparison. The primary purpose of this paper was to show that such a distinction was inaccurate when we have a full understanding of general evolutionary theory. Once this connection was established in Part II, we turned to examine some of the implications for leadership studies in particular. While a new theory was not presented, a foundation for such a theory …

The History Of Women In The Virginia General Assembly : Their Legislation, Support Groups And Leadership, Tiffany Morris

Honors Theses

The study of women and politics and their involvement throughout American history has lacked depth and consistency. While the changing role of women during the 1960's spurred many political changes, it was not until the second wave of the feminist movement. which was in a political activist direction, that the status of women in politics became a legitimate topic of academic study (Milano 5). The intention of this paper is to study the history of women in the Virginia General Assembly in terms of their leadership, legislation. and the impact of women's network groups on their political success. I hope …