Leadership Commons^™

The Threat Of Innovation: Tactics To Improve Small Team Creative Outcomes In Risk-Averse Organizations, Paul Gaylo

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project explores the paradox that creativity is generally viewed as a positive force and is a desired trait or characteristic, yet when faced with the true cost of creativity, individuals and organizations may purposefully or inadvertently suppress creativity. Real world examples are used to frame the applicability of this project to the typical large and complex technical product organization. The project includes a review of creativity scholarship in the context of organizations and a discussion to establish the foundational science behind this paradox. The project introduces the new creativity readiness level index, and a survey strategy to gauge organizational …

People As Wochristian Leaders And Managers, In Light Of And In Response To Gods Common Grace, Are Capable Of Building Organizational Practices That Foster Employee Engagement And Promote Human Flourishing. In This Article, We Examine What It Means For Humans To Be Created In The Image Of God And Therefore To Be Made To Work And To Use Their Unique Gifts And Strengths In Such Efforts. We Will Argue That It Is Precisely This Constructive Function Of Gods Common Grace That Is The Key Not Only To Individual-Level Flourishing But Also To Organizational-Level And Societal-Level Flourishing As Well.Rkers In The Image Of God, Brian Cawley, Peter J. Snyder

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Christian leaders and managers, in light of and in response to Gods common grace, are capable of building organizational practices that foster employee engagement and promote human flourishing. In this article, we examine what it means for humans to be created in the image of God and therefore to be made to work and to use their unique gifts and strengths in such efforts. We will argue that it is precisely this constructive function of Gods common grace that is the key not only to individual-level flourishing but also to organizational-level and societal-level flourishing as well.

Information Systems Strategy And The Role Of Chief Information Officers: Strategizing And Aligning Practices, Anna Karpovsky

2015

Information Systems (IS) pose both a challenge and an opportunity for organizations. The topic of strategizing around IS issues is thus of considerable importance. While there has been substantial academic research relating to the strategic value of IS – over 50 years – much of it focuses on such aspects of the topic as strategic IS planning, strategic alignment, and IS for competitive advantage. Fewer studies have taken into account the emergent nature of strategy formation. Fewer still have given attention to strategy-making practitioners, in particular their role and influence in the strategizing process. Accordingly, the goal of this dissertation …

The Greehey Scholars Program As An Innovative Solution To The Student Debt And Employment Crisis Of Recent Graduates, Matthew White

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

The cost of attending a public university rose 42% from 2000 to 2011 (National). This alarming rate, paired with the increasingly competitive employment landscape, forces universities to find unique differentiators when recruiting prospective students. Institutions, which students pay large sums of money to attend, have an obligation to prepare graduates for successful careers. Universities have no choice but to innovate, creating new programs and opportunities for students to attend college and gain the skills necessary to obtain a job upon graduation.

One such example of a program that meets both of these challenges is the Greehey Scholars Program (GSP). The …

Q&A Meta Braymer On Leadership, Melina Downs

Administrative / Professional Faculty Articles

Meta Braymer has always believed that more women need to be in leadership positions. And that conviction was exemplified throughout her career as she made decisions to help women succeed. One of her lasting legacies is the Leadership Colloquium @ UMW, which she founded in 1994. In the following interview, Braymer discusses leadership with me and how women can be inspired to have a more active role in leadership positions.

Achieving A Competitive Advantage Through Ethical Business Practices An Ethnographical Case Study, Valarie Denney

Publications

Ethical leadership can be a key driver of corporate behavior but it is an individual’s sense of ethics that has an impact on business success. The specific problem was that despite the plethora of academic, government, and industry studies, it remained unclear whether investing in ethics provided a competitive advantage for businesses. The purpose of this qualitative, ethnographic case study was to examine how the internal stakeholders in a single business defined and applied ethics and what elements of the business culture and competitive environment affected decision-making. The research was a practical application of the stakeholder theory, normative ethics and …

Effectiveness In Executive Decision-Making Bodies: The Role Of Conflict, Chris L. Day, Pilar Pazos

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The theory and practice related to team processes such as communication, coordination, conflict, and their impact on team performance and effectiveness has been focused on principles applied to teams in general and to specific subsets of teams/situations. Executive decision-making bodies are a specialized subset of teams charged with managing strategic and enterprise-wide change typically consisting of talented team members who make decisions having a broad impact on the organizations they lead. Executive decision-making bodies have been largely unexplored in the team research literature. This study presents an in-depth review of prior research exploring the role of input factors and conflict …

Communication Techniques: Promoting Corporate Social Responsibility, Laurie Beth Fried

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is increasingly important for businesses and their stakeholders. Successful communication ofa companies' CSR program remains a huge challenge. It is important for business leaders to understand how to build customer awareness of CSR efforts, and identify the factors that positively impact customers' beliefs and purchasing behavior, and thus the bottom line. Research for this study was both quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative analysis utilized data from a recent e-mail customer survey conducted by a national retailer. Top CSR Communicators were identified and then a qualitative analysis was applied with in-depth employee interviews. The results revealed that …

Perceived Gender-Typing Of Successful Managerial Characteristics, Sarah Holtzen

Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

Previous research has indicated that the characteristics associated with successful business managers are more often attributed to men in general than to women in general. This paper seeks to examine the current state of perceived gender-typing of the characteristics associated with successful business managers. Using the Schein Descriptive Index (Schein, 1973), undergraduate business students (N=177) were asked to rate women in general, men in general, or successful business managers on a set of 92 descriptive terms. Intraclass correlation coefficients were computed to estimate the ANOVA between groups. Respondents were also asked to describe in their own words what they believe …

Transformational Leadership, Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, And Non-Supervisory Nurses' Intention To Leave, Audrey E. Gregory

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The United States is currently experiencing a nursing shortage. To compound the problem, hospital nurses are leaving their organizations and executives are scrambling to figure out the reasons behind the increased turnover. Many factors are associated with nurses' intention to leave their current employment. Among these factors are job satisfaction, organizational commitment, work satisfaction, work setting, control over practice, salary, nurse-physician collaboration, job stress, and leadership style. Effective nursing leadership is an integral factor in the retention of hospital nurses and nurses who perceive their nursing leadership as participative and transformational may be more likely to be satisfied with their …