Digital Commons Network^™

Strategies For Increasing Workforce Engagement, Joanne White Hayes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The existence of disengaged employees can reduce productivity and increase organizations’ costs. Engaged employees are vital to many organizations and the success of organizational leaders. Grounded in Herzberg's two factor theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies managers used to increase employee engagement in the nonprofit industry. Participants were 3 managers in South Carolina who successfully implemented strategies to increase employee engagement. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and a review of company documents. Data were analyzed using Yin’s 5-step method of analysis, and 3 themes emerged: providing clear and concise communication, recognition and …

Leadership Strategies To Manage Workplace Conflict, Omari Asante

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Workplace conflict can be counterproductive to organizational goal attainment and can cause dysfunction and unhealthy competition among organizational members. When left unchecked, workplace conflict can negatively impact teams’ performance and result in substantial financial losses to organizations. However, when properly managed, workplace conflict can lead to positive relationship building, peer learning, enhanced communication, innovation, and high motivation. Grounded in transformational leadership theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore leadership strategies senior account managers use to manage workplace conflict. Participants were 8 senior account managers who had successfully implemented leadership strategies for managing workplace conflict in …

The Efficacy Of Ghana’S Business Interest In The Global Economy, Sandra Mateko Elikplim Dankwa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) are drivers of economic growth and development worldwide. SMEs in the Greater Accra region of Ghana have not been able to innovate and sustain competition. The problem in this phenomenological study was that leaders of SMEs in this region have not fully understood the contributions of the transformational leadership model to the capacity of organizations to innovate and sustain competitiveness. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the lived experiences of leaders of SMEs in Ghana in leveraging organizational capabilities for innovation and competitiveness. The study’s conceptual framework was grounded in transformational leadership. The …

Strategies For Business Management Innovations To Improve Competitiveness, Roger George Denousse

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some African business leaders were, in 2019, less competitive because they continue to use traditional business management practices and have failed to incorporate advanced technology. Taking advantage of new management strategies and innovative technology to increase their global competitiveness will benefit African businesses. The purpose of this multiple case study, grounded in Burns’ transformational leadership theory, was to explore strategies that business leaders in Seychelles have used to implement management innovations to improve competitiveness. The participants consisted of 5 business leaders from 5 large innovative business organizations operating successfully and based in Mahe, Seychelles. The data were collected through semistructured …

Reintegration Of Female Non-Commissioned Officer Veterans Into The Private Business Sector, Wanda E. Floyd

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Experiencing a significant career transition can directly impact military veterans.

Literature exists on military transition and reintegration but is focused on topics ranging from combat-related disabilities and mental health issues to higher learning. There is a lack of knowledge regarding female Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) veterans’ transition and reintegration experiences. The purpose of this qualitative study, using a phenomenological design with purposeful sampling, was to explore the lived experiences of female NCO veterans’ process of transition and private-sector reintegration. The research question evaluated participants’ perceptions, leveraging them to increase awareness and improve programs for the U.S. veteran population. Semi structured interviews …

Strategies To Improve Millennial Employees’ Engagement Within The Hospitality Industry, Duane Stephens

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, engagement levels of the multigenerational workforce are negatively affecting the overall business value. Employee engagement is important to hospitality industry leaders as an indicator of job performance, turnover, employee intentions, and organizational commitment. Grounded in Kahn’s employee engagement theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore effective strategies used by leaders in the hospitality industry to improve Millennial employee engagement. The participants were 5 hotel leaders in Virginia who successfully engaged their Millennial workforce. Data were collected from semistructured interviews, company documents, and note-taking. Data were analyzed using Yin’s 5-step data analysis, …

Urgent Care Centers And Workers’ Compensation Medical Cost Containment, Drema M. Thompson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In response to healthcare payment policy reforms, billions of dollars in healthcare provider charges are challenged annually. Following the implementation of the Virginia workers’ compensation medical fee legislation, healthcare organizations experienced declining worker compensation medical fee schedule reimbursements and lack of profitability. Grounded in the adaptive cycle model, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies 2 urgent care center (UCC) leaders in Virginia used to increase profits after implementing the Virginia workers’ compensation medical fee legislation. Data were collected via in-depth interviews and a review of company documents. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data. …

Instructional Leadership Practices Of K-12 School Principals Regarding Teachers' Burnout, Lakeva Lajune Winchester

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teachers who experience burnout leave the teaching profession. School principals in a public school district located in the southern United States are inconsistently implementing instructional leadership practices to support teachers who experience burnout. The purpose of this basic qualitative research study was to understand the instructional leadership practices of school principals regarding teachers’ burnout. The conceptual framework was Vygotsky’s theory of zone of proximal development, which posits that people are more motivated to learn when they are supported and encouraged and is based on Malcolm Knowles’ theory of andragogy, known as the adult leaning theory. The research question considered how …

Registered Nurse Engagement And Patient Falls In The Acute Care Setting, Jenna Zaliauskas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Falls are a critical problem for inpatient medical-surgical adult patients. Past research has indicated a link between nurse disengagement and unsafe care. The purpose of this study was to improve the understanding of the relationship between nurse engagement and patient falls with injury on medical surgical units in health care facilities in the United States using the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators. Retrospective data were reviewed from 13 U.S. hospitals in the Midwest covering Q1 (2018) and Q2 (2018) on medical-surgical units related to nurse engagement and patient falls. A correlational and MANOVA design was used to determine the …

Enhancing Leadership Strategies To Reduce Stress On Employees For Organizational Success, Reginald Wayne Butler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizational leaders' inability to effectively manage complexity and implement leadership development strategies during intense situations creates work-related stress among employees. Stress contributes to emotional disorders, decreased job performance, high staff turnover that place the organization's health in jeopardy. Grounded in the expectancy theory of motivation, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore key leadership strategies to reduce stress in the workplace. The face-to-face, semistructured interviews were conducted with 3 senior leaders from a financial institution in the southern United States who had successfully implemented strategies that reduced stress on employees and improved their job performance. Their …

Leadership And Performance Of The Brewery Industry In Nigeria, Abayomi Abimbola Abidakun

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

One of the most pressing concerns for business organizations remains the need to seek leaders who can manage employee effectively and efficiently to improve business performance. Guided by the principles of transformational leadership theory, this correlational study examined the relationship between leadership and non-financial performance at the brewery industry in Nigeria. I relied on primary data collected using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire -MLQ, job satisfaction scale-JSS, three-components commitment scale- JCS and six-item Turnover Intention Scale (TIS-6) to measure leadership, job satisfaction, employee commitment and turnover intention. Four hundred participants who were senior and junior manager at Nigerian Breweries Plc. were …

Scottish Nonprofit Mental Health Organizational Strategies To Commercialize Innovative Products And Services, Adrienne Provos Adkins-Provost

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many nonprofit organization (NPO) leaders lack strategies to commercialize innovativeproducts and services to secure funding and ensure financial stability. NPO leaders who do not overcome financial challenges could face organizational failure and the inability to attain their mission. Grounded in stakeholder theory, the purpose of this qualitative, single case study was to explore strategies that Scottish nonprofit mental health organization leaders use to commercialize innovative products and services to secure funding and ensure financial stability. The study participants were 4 leaders at a single mental health organization in Scotland. Semistructured interviews, organizational documents, government data, public data, and information from …

Perspectives Of Colombian Higher Education Deans And Faculty Directors On Transformational Leadership, Darling Viviana Delgado Alban

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Leadership emerges as a powerful force in the effort toward achieving quality education. The transformational leadership style inspires leaders to work toward a common goal to create change. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore higher education deans’ and faculty directors’ perspectives on their practice of transformational leadership in higher education institutions in Colombia. Transformational leadership theory served as the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected from semi structured interviews with 6 higher education deans and 6 faculty directors. Findings from coding analysis revealed 7 themes: leadership commitment, shared vision, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual …

Strategies Nurse Managers Use To Increase Registered Nurses Retention, Andrew Sobers

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractRegistered nurse (RN) turnover significantly impacts organizational profitability and performance. The turnover of nurses also impacts business practices as it may disrupt the organization's ability to properly staff and provide efficient patient care. Further, nurse managers inability to retain RNs may result in problems such as loss of productivity and increased personnel costs. Guided by Burn's transformational leadership theory and Homan's social exchange theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore the strategies that nurse managers use to increase RN retention. Participants were 6 nurse managers from Boston, Massachusetts who implemented RN retention strategies in their …

Leadership Styles And Emotional Intelligence Of Federal Employees In Diversified Work Environments, Richard Lopez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

On the Office of Personnel Management Federal Viewpoint Surveys, followers rated their leaders as ineffective. The public expects federal government leaders to effectively lead their followers in order to efficiently manage public services. The purpose of this correlational nonexperimental study was to determine whether there is a correlation between emotional intelligence (EQ) and a full range of leadership styles, as measured by the multileadership questionnaire (MLQ), from the perspective of the follower. Grounded in the theory of EQ, the extant scholarly literature revealed EQ skills complements leadership styles and predict leader success in a variety of business sectors, cultures, and …

Decentralization And Good Governance In Angolan Local Governments, Nkosi Mankenda

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Effective provision of public goods and services is among the common issues affecting local governments in Angola. Administrative decentralization is a well-known strategy to foster municipal governance, yet Angolan citizens perceive a lack of impact from this strategy. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of leaders and followers in public administration regarding the lack of impact of administrative decentralization on Northern Angola, and to examine the role of public administration education to reverse this trend. The theoretical frameworks were Pierson’s path dependence theory and Cooperrider’s appreciative inquiry theory. Data were collected from semistructured interviews …

Strategies To Improve Employee Engagement In Retail Stores, Bianca Maynard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Less than one-third of workers in the United States have engaged in their work since Gallup commenced tracking employee workforce engagement in 2000. Retail store managers who fail to engage employees are at risk of losing organizational profitability. Grounded in Kahn’s theory of personal engagement and disengagement, and Sak’s theory of social exchange, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies retail store managers used to improve employee engagement. The participants comprised 5 retail managers from a retail organization in Metro Atlanta, who effectively used employee engagement strategies. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and company …

Influence Of Perceived Supervisor Support And Narcissistic Leadership On Employee Turnover Intention, Natalie Disque

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employees may perceive that many factors contribute to negative attitudes at work that

increase turnover intention. Researchers have established that uncivil behavior, toxic

leadership, bullying, and mobbing increases disengagement and absenteeism and

negatively influences the leader-follower dyad and organizational performance. Based on

the theoretical foundation of the leader-member exchange theory, the purpose of this

quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between the independent

variables (employees’ perceptions of supervisor support [PSS] and narcissistic leadership

[NL]) and the dependent variable (employee turnover intention [TI]). Employee age and

tenure with the company were control variables in the study. Survey data from …

Analysis Of Jamie Dimon: Impact Of Leadership And Culture At J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Abigail Elisabeth Chapman

Honors Theses and Capstones

Jamie Dimon is one of Wall Street’s most effective and intelligent leaders who has transformed J.P. Morgan Chase into one of the largest and most well-respected banks in the world. To understand why this is, it’s important to analyze Dimon’s leadership style and how this has impacted the performance of J.P. Morgan. This paper investigates the performance of J.P. Morgan Chase under Dimon, how his character embodies both a Transformative and Transactional leadership style, and how his leadership has transformed the culture and performance of J.P. Morgan today.

Self-Actualized Leadership: Exploring The Intersection Of Inclusive Leadership And Workplace Spirituality At A Faith-Based Institution Of Higher Education, Kerri Cissna

Theses and Dissertations

Today’s leaders are facing complex business problems that require a moral compass and more than one person to solve. Bill Gates extols that organizations must innovate or die (Lee, 2013) and it is becoming widely accepted that diversity and inclusion are key factors in cultivating the innovative workplace (Kurschner & Schmidt, 2017). Although religion has been relegated to the margins of organizational leadership studies, a new era of globalization has ushered in opportunities for spirituality to become a conduit for self-actualization and inclusive leadership. Therefore, inclusive leadership and workplace spirituality are needed to address some of these pressing matters.

This …

Building Change Agility Within Teams, Tiffany N. Bersos

Theses and Dissertations

Change is necessary for an organization to be successful. However, poorly executed change, with ill-equipped leaders and unprepared teams, often result in failed efforts. Leaders can have a direct impact on their team's change agility and successful change initiatives. This study looked at team leaders and individual contributors across a variety of industries and explored ways that team leaders can build change agility. This study addressed three research questions: how participants defined the role of a leader, what individuals observed about themselves when at their best during a change, and what practices they believed would aid in building change agility …

Manager Development In Younger, Growing Organizations, Christine Parcells

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored manager development needs in younger, growing organizations related to challenges with uncertainty, ambiguity, and a rapid pace of change. This research examined two companies: one that had not gone through IPO or acquisition and one that was acquired twice. The primary themes in the findings included adaptive behaviors and communication capabilities, the impact and influence of a company's culture and a changing organization structure on development, as well the need for building relationships and networks to help managers cope with the challenges of a growing organization. By implementing manager development programs early, companies can build inclusion, foster …

Managing The Affective Responses Of Employees During Organizational Change In Higher Education, Brad Kennington

Theses and Dissertations

Higher education is facing a period of continual change driven by numerous external and internal forces. Consequently, higher education leaders are faced with the frequent and daunting task of planning and managing organizational change in higher education institutions, which are both complex and dynamic in nature. Adding difficulty to this task is the fact that employees often react to change with emotional responses that are both challenging to understand and complicated and to manage. Managing affective dimensions of change can be overwhelming to leaders, which can lead to failed organizational change efforts. This study explored and answered (a) how a …

Best Leadership Practices Of Female Film Directors, Sara Carraway

Theses and Dissertations

Female film directors are highly underrepresented within the U.S. film industry, especially within narrative film (S.L. Smith, Pieper, & Choueiti, 2013). In 2019, only 12% of directors in the top 100 grossing films were female (Lauzen, 2020). There are several obstacles female directors face in their careers. Financing is more difficult to obtain for female directors due to stereotypes of women as risky investments (P. Smith et al., 2013). Closely tied to financing, gendered networks and homophily can prevent women from making relationships with gatekeepers and accessing the same opportunities as men (Jones & Pringle, 2015; Wing-Fai et al., 2015). …

The Impact Of Manager Appreciative Communication On Employee Psychological Well-Being Being, Matthew Bowman

Theses and Dissertations

Communication and leadership are both important components of a successful organization and can play a role in an employee's psychological well-being. This study looks at managers communication and the real-life impact on an employee's experience at work and how it affects their happiness. This study uses a mixed methodology to build a foundation of data, each from the managers and employees' point of view to build context and generate a direction a manager can take when communicating with their staff. The manager and employee reactions showed a correlation between a manager's ability to communicate their appreciation to their employee. A …

Books Or Food? Food Insecurity And The Rise Of Campus Food Pantries, Sonya Sharififard

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a quantitative study of campus food pantries located in public four-year colleges and universities in the United States. The research aims to explain relationships among campus food pantries and surrounding neighborhood characteristics affecting local food environments. There are two parts to the study: (a) the quantitative analysis through responses from a participant questionnaire; and (b) a case study analysis to accompany the quantitative analysis. The researcher identified three metropolitan counties within U.S. census tracts, to determine the relationship between neighborhood demographics, the local food environment, and the impact on campus communities. The researcher explored food accessibility within …

Multi-Generation Family Business Succession At Mondial Printing Services In Nigeria: A Case Study, Titus Oyeladun

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative single case study examined the factors that contributed to the successful transition of Mondial Printing Services (MPS)—a family business in Nigeria—to the second generation. Secondly, this study investigated to what extent, if any, did formal succession planning impact the transfer of Mondial Printing Services from founder to second generation in Nigeria. And lastly this study investigated to what extent, if any, does succession experience of a second-generation family business leaders at MPS influence their approach to continuity and succession planning. This study analyzed qualitative data in the form of interviews from a sample population of five employees at …

Developing Ei: Leadership Journeys In Emotional Intelligence, Erin Bric

Theses and Dissertations

Emotional intelligence (EI) has been deemed a critical competency for leaders in today's world. However, there is little information to help OD practitioners, leaders, and organizations understand how leaders can develop these skills in ways that meaningfully and positively impact their teams and organizations. This study examined the journeys of senior leaders as they developed their emotional intelligence. The study addressed two research questions: how leaders perceive they have developed their emotional intelligence throughout their lifetimes and how leaders are continuing to develop their emotional intelligence in their lives and careers. Key themes emerged out of leader interviews and were …

Love As An Organizational Norm: An Exploration At A Values-Centered Organization, Vangie Marie Bogaty-Rodríguez

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated to what extent, if any, developing a norm of love might be accepted, incorporated, sustained, and beneficial to an organization. Participants included 18 directors, manager, and supervisors of a 24-year-old telecommunications company located in Puerto Rico. Data were collected through individual interviews where interviewees shared their perspectives on the possibility of adopting the norm of love, their acceptance of it, and how they would implement it. Findings indicated that a majority (83.33%) of the participants acknowledged that love is part of the human essence and whole selves, and that such a norm would be beneficial to employees …

A Quantitative Descriptive Study Of The Self-Perception Of Southern Oregon Entrepreneurial Leaders, Rebecca Williams

Theses and Dissertations

The study helped to identify what are the leadership styles of adult entrepreneurs, and what if any factors contribute to an entrepreneurs' leadership style. The study focused on entrepreneurial leaders, over the age of 18, who own and started their own business. These entrepreneurs are a member of one of the following Southern Oregon-based business networking groups: Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development, Inc. (SOREDI), and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) of Southern Oregon. The study explored the self-perceived leadership styles of entrepreneurs in Southern Oregon through a quantitative descriptive survey method that utilized a 45-question, Likert scale from the …