Leadership Studies Commons^™

Unconscious Bias In United States Marine Corps Leadership Doctrine: Examining Microaggressions Through Document Analysis, Patrick Butler

Dissertations

This dissertation employed a document analysis format to examine Marine Corps leadership education doctrine for microaggressions. The United States Marine Corps (Marine Corps or USMC) is the military service with the least diverse officer cadre in terms of sex, gender identity, and race. The study results show a pattern of repeating unconscious bias-related content within the Marine Corps’ documents. Such patterns can negatively affect minority members in terms of their health, acceptance, and performance within the organization. The results also document an overriding bias-culture which puts Marine Corps leadership in a dilemma of trying to encourage conformity to traditional organizational ...

Examining The Cross-Cultural Competence Of United States Christian Missionaries Engaged In Developing Indigenous Leaders: A Mixed Methods Study, Craig W. Goodman

Dissertations

For the past two millennia, missionaries have crossed from one culture to another to bring the Christian message to all cultures of the world. Questions about the effectiveness of these mission efforts have been asked and researched by many; however, one key question remains unanswered: what personal attributes help a person to be more competent at crossing cultures as they interact with people from other cultures? Although cross-cultural competence has been studied in a variety of fields over the past 50 years, the models and assessments used have never been applied to Christian missionaries.

To address this deficiency, this parallel ...

Improving The Retention Of United States (U.S.) Government Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) Employees, Jeffrey Myers

Dissertations

The U.S. government workforce has been consistently shrinking since a peak in the 1990s. At the same time, the need for technologically-savvy government workers has dramatically risen in this same period. This divergence in the demand for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) employees challenges government leaders to retain these highly demanded workers in the public sector.

Decades of psychological research across many industries has investigated what motivates workers and how best to incentivize them to increase productivity. Maslow and Herzberg, among others, theorized that adult workers have both intrinsic and extrinsic needs that drive their behaviors and resultant ...

Executive Peer Advisory Groups: Who They Are? What Are Their Benefits? Why Do Members Join And Stay?, Andrew Feghali

Dissertations

Executive peer advisory groups (EPAGs) are exclusive organizations in which chief executive officers (CEOs) and presidents of businesses can problem solve business challenges, discuss business strategies, share best practices, and solve critical growth and performance issues. Executive peer advisory groups are based on the premise that the collective experience and resources of peer groups empower like-minded executives to solve challenges more effectively and more rapidly than they could do on their own. A key component of EPAGs is the forum, in which six to 16 members meet, typically monthly, in small-group sessions to function as each other’s personal advisory ...

God’S Plan For Life: Training Drill Sergeants To Better Serve Their Neighbor By Developing Moral Character Utilizing The “Transformational Moral Leadership” Model, Matthew Christensen

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Instances of moral failure within the U.S. Army raises the question of whether an individual’s character may be developed and improved by utilizing a moral decision-making process. If so, is it possible to measure this improvement? From a Lutheran perspective, is it possible to improve moral character without appealing to the boundaries provided by God’s Word and a Christian community influencing the spiritual dimensions of one’s life.

This project set out to build upon an eighteen-hour Transformational Moral Leadership training model being utilized to strengthen the moral character of drill sergeants at Fort Benning, Georgia. The ...

Identifying The Support Women Entrepreneurs In Rural Maine Need From Each Other And Their Communities To Thrive, Lisa Luken

Thinking Matters Symposium

Rural women entrepreneurs have the power to positively impact the sustainability of their communities, yet they are faced with internal and external challenges in their pursuits to grow successful businesses and create sustainable livelihoods. While a number of scholars in the past 10 years investigated these challenges and suggested some solutions, more research is needed to identify additional solutions, including those specifically relevant to rural Maine communities. This qualitative study explored the support women entrepreneurs in rural Maine need from each other and their communities to thrive. Data gathered through semi-structured interviews with eleven women entrepreneurs from rural Maine revealed ...

Developing Practices Within The Lord’S Supper That Develop Central Identity At Queen City Church Of Christ, Ryan Russell

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This project was designed to meet a need at the Queen City Church of Christ (QCC) for developing intentional practices around the Lord’s Supper for forming a central identity in a diverse community. The scope of this project focuses on the project group’s ability to develop practices based on the theology of the Lord’s Supper, biblical teaching, engaging in practices of spiritual formation as a group, and their observations of Lord’s Supper practices in other Christian traditions. Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth provides the textual context for the discussion of the role ...

Incorporating Wisdom Christology Into The Phronesis Of Courtyard Church Of Christ, Tiffany A. Dahlman

Doctor of Ministry Theses

The purpose of this project was to address an identified problem Courtyard Church of Christ members were having with decision-making in a way that promoted shalom and reflected Christ to the world. I proposed that Wisdom Christology could assist in the decision-making process and formed an intervention team of five additional people from within the congregation to explore the situation through participatory action research. We met for six sessions in the early months of 2020. The team embarked on a thorough examination of Wisdom Christology through the Scriptures climaxing in the Wisdom Hymn of Col 1:15–20. Our subsequent ...

Creating An Action Plan To Increase Diversity And Inclusion At Northwest Church Of Christ, Kenton Reeves Brown

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This project was designed to meet a need at the Northwest Church of Christ in Oklahoma City to help the church transition from a church that values diversity to one that realizes its vision of being diverse and inclusive. The scope of this project was to create an action plan to increase diversity and inclusion to present to the church leaders for their consideration. The theological foundation for the project comes from Paul’s convictions, expressed in Gal 1–2, that any who are in Christ should not be excluded or treated as a lower-class member of the community based ...

Developing Policies And Procedures For Restorative Accountability At Southwestern Assemblies Of God University, W. Lance Meche

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This project was designed to address a lack of policies and procedures at Southwestern Assemblies of God University that support its restorative accountability approach in addressing student conduct violations. The student handbook provides rights and responsibilities afforded each student as well as the procedures that appointed staff members are to follow in the event that campus policies are violated; however, the language used in the student handbook did not address modern student culture, nor did it procedurally assist staff members in helping students to develop spiritually. The project intervention involved staff members who address student violations with grace as well ...

Pope Francis' Leadership In The Time Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Hang T.H. Nguyen Op

Obsculta

The essay writes about the influences of the COVID-19 pandemic to human existence in various aspects, particularly Christian faith. In the darkness and hardship of life, believers and non-believers need the help of good leaders so that they can overcome the crisis, but not lose their faith in God. In order to achieve this purpose, the leaders both in the Church and in the world need to acquire some qualities. What are qualities of a good leader? The essay is an attempt to answer this question by reflection on Pope Francis’ leadership. According to Orobator, Pope Francis is good leader ...

Women And Gender Studies And The Potentiality Of Feminist Leadership, Clara Perka

Thinking Matters Symposium

Graduates of Women and Gender Studies (WGS) programs gain skills that aid in the development of a feminist leadership, a leadership practice that is committed to challenging oppressive structures and institutions and empowering others to reach their full potential. Through semi-structured interviews, this qualitative study explored the experiences of five graduates of WGS undergraduate programs in the Northeast region of the United States whose post-graduation work across a variety of professional fields has offered them opportunities to practice feminist leadership. While research on both WGS and Leadership is abundant, this research addresses the gap in the literature on feminist leadership ...

The Academic Leadership Framework, Stefan Niewiesk, Gates Garrity-Rokous

38th Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

The Academic Leadership Framework helps unify and direct efforts to improve academic leadership, while providing a foundation for assessment, training, and collaboration. Its six domains (Values and Behaviors, People, Decision making, Goal setting, Organization, Oversight) provide foundational skills and experiences for the development, assessment, and improvement of academic administrative work.

Understanding Why Some Whistleblowers Are Venerated And Others Vilified, Christopher D. E. Atkinson, Eric D. Wesselmann, Daniel G. Lannin

Heroism Science

Whistleblowers are individuals who witness a moral infraction committed within their organization and report this infraction publicly to hold the group accountable. Whistleblowers often face ridicule, vilification, and exclusion both within their group and sometimes within broader society. Thus, whistleblowers put themselves at personal risk to adhere to their moral code and protect others; these criteria commonly classify someone as a hero. We argue diverse reactions to whistleblowers are influenced by numerous situational factors that influence perceptions of a whistleblower’s intentions as well as the expected consequences of their whistleblowing. Whether a whistleblower is viewed as a virtuous reformer ...

Social Justice And The Us Food System: A Critical Course On The Human Dimensions Of Food, Ali Brooks

Food Systems Master's Project Reports

Our world is made up of overlapping political, environmental, and economic spheres that engender social injustice and inequality. Though separate societal issues can seem divergent and unconnected, they are all linked together by one universal necessity: food. Because everyone eats, everyone is connected to—and dependent on—food and the systems that govern it. However, the impacts of our industrial food system are not felt equally among people who hold different positions of power within it.

Today’s industrial food complex operates on the capitalist principle of profit accumulation through exploitation, commodification, and extraction. This set of relations is not ...

Discovering, Developing, And Deploying Emerging Ministry Leaders In The Assemblies Of God, Janet Kay Bruner Faggart

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Across America, the need exists to identify young, potential Christian leaders who sense a call to ministry, to grow these emerging leaders through spiritual parenting or mentoring, godly relationships, education, training, and ministry experience, and to send out the next generation of ministers to fulfill the Great Commission. The purpose of this mixed-method phenomenological study was to explore and better understand the nature of the discovery, development, and deployment of a call to ministry for emerging leaders who are credentialed ministers with the North Texas District Council of the Assemblies of God and under 40 years of age at the ...

Exploring The Underrepresentation Of Women Coaches In Canadian University Sport, Hayley Finn

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Currently, there are disproportionally few women who hold coaching positions within Canadian university sport. To investigate the gender gap, this dissertation explores the institutional practices that inform women coaches’ working realities. Applying Smith’s (1987) institutional ethnography as a mode of inquiry directed the exploration towards the everyday practices and processes that inform experience, to better understand current barriers and supports in place. In this study, particular attention is given to social relations, which Smith (2005) calls the relations of ruling that coordinate activities and experiences of individuals within organizations. Institutional ethnography aims to explicate these relations of ruling by ...

A Crack In The Glass Ceiling: How Trio Programs In Maine Are Narrowing The Gender Gap, Michelle Richards

Thinking Matters Symposium

Although women have increased their presence within the workforce, higher education, and politics, they are still underrepresented in top leadership positions. Men outnumber women in the Senate, House of Representatives, Congress, and at the CEO level. Even in the nonprofit sector where women have historically outnumbered men, the top leadership positions are primarily held by men. However, there is a predominance of women directors in Maine’s TRIO programs. TRIO programs are federally funded non-profit organizations designed to encourage access to higher education for economically disadvantaged and first-generation students (Council for Opportunity in Education, n.d.). There are 23 TRIO ...

Courageous Followership And Leadership In Higher Education: The Professional Relationship Between Presidential Assistants And Their Leaders, Lisa Smith

Thinking Matters Symposium

The term courageous followership was introduced over fifteen years ago by author Ira Chaleff in his book The Courageous Follower: Standing up to and for our leaders (2009). While the concept of courageous followership is relatively new in leadership theory models, the idea has shifted from the all-powerful leader and submissive follower model to a more dynamic model that supports and balances leadership today (Chaleff, 2009). Whether an institution has a more hierarchical or a shared leadership model, some power exists in the leaders and some in the followers (Chaleff, 2009). To this end, a professional relationship between an assistant ...

Examining Factors Related To Employees' Perceived Value Congruence In A Newcomer Training Program, William Joseph Mattera Jr

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The first 90 days of employment have received more and more attention concerning how an individual employee (“individual”) can succeed within the work environment. Watkins (2013) centers the responsibility on the individual to engage in understanding, embracing, and shifting toward buying into an organizational culture. However, what role does an organization play in successfully transitioning an individual into their culture? The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of a new employee training program on perceptions of role clarity, organizational culture, organizational goals and values, and perceived value congruence.

A quantitative approach was utilized to analyze responses ...