Digital Commons Network^™

Combating Corruption At The Grass-Roots Level: The Case Of Individual Oath Takers, Emmanuel Funso Oluyitan

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Nigeria ranks as one of the most corrupt nations in the world. Its abundant natural resources are being exploited by some privileged few while the majority suffers abject poverty. In spite of a series of laws and reforms directed at waging war against corruption and campaigns against corruption by both government and non-government organizations (NG0s), corruption still reigns in Nigeria and has become part of Nigerian culture. The Association of Nigerians Against Corruption (ANAC), which I founded in 1984, is one such NGO campaigning against corruption through a series of seminars. ANAC focuses on appealing to the minds of individuals …

Enabling Community And Trust: Shared Leadership For Collective Creativity, Mohammed Mohammed, Kurian Thomas

The Foundation Review

The strength of nonprofit organizations comes from well-developed human connections that spur productive collaboration across levels of hierarchy. This article, exploring the experience of the Fetzer Institute, demonstrates that workplace creativity is best fostered if it is matched by a style of leadership that invites a wider spectrum of internal actors to actively participate.

While acknowledging the significance of shared leadership, this article does not necessarily advocate for the dissolution of hierarchy; rather, it points out that the key lies in finding the sweet spot between organizational structure and a creative community.

The article describes tools that are particularly effective …

The Effect That Confidence Has On The Behavior Of The Principal And Superintendent As The School's Educational Leader, Thomas Thompson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative bounded, multi-site case study was to explore the effect that confidence has on the behavior of the principal and superintendent as the school's educational leader. The participants of this study were principals and superintendents of eight K-12 institutions in Northern Colorado. While the data addressing this multi-level epistemological observation are revealed through the narrative process, the framework for observing and codifying the research was derived from a qualitative multi-site case methodology where participants engaged in interviews and surveys, and whereby the researcher synthesized three research fields into one. Data were collected from the participant leaders …

Developing T-Shaped Water Professionals: Building Capacity In Collaboration, Learning, And Leadership To Drive Innovation, Brian S. Mcintosh, Andre Taylor

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

As we progress into the 21 st century, change is an increasingly central theme for water professionals and for professionals in sectors where water plays a central role. Building the capacity of professionals in water and closely related sectors to lead such change will be an essential component of the response to global water challenges this century. This paper provides a contribution by critically developing a concept, the T-shaped water professional, as a framework for the design of curricula for educational programs to build the capacity of water professionals to stimulate and drive processes of innovation and change. The T-shaped …

Developing T-Shaped Water Professionals: Building Capacity In Collaboration, Learning, And Leadership To Drive Innovation, Brian S. Mcintosh, Andre Taylor

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

As we progress into the 21 st century, change is an increasingly central theme for water professionals and for professionals in sectors where water plays a central role. Building the capacity of professionals in water and closely related sectors to lead such change will be an essential component of the response to global water challenges this century. This paper provides a contribution by critically developing a concept, the T-shaped water professional, as a framework for the design of curricula for educational programs to build the capacity of water professionals to stimulate and drive processes of innovation and change. The T-shaped …

Making Leaders: Examining How Elementary School Students Develop An Understanding Of Leadership And Show Emerging Leadership Tendencies, Sarah E. Evans

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

MAKING LEADERS: EXAMINING HOW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF LEADERSHIP AND SHOW EMERGING LEADERSHIP TENDENCIES

By Sarah E. Evans, Ph.D.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Virginia Commonwealth University, 2014

Director: Whitney Sherman Newcomb, Ph.D.

Professor, Educational Leadership

The purpose of this study was to understand how young children develop skills and concepts of leadership, when nurtured in a developmentally appropriate manner. Leadership was defined as a process that people use to bring out the best in themselves and others, while working towards …

Wheel Of Innovation : How Leaders' Attitudes And Behaviors Drive Disruptive Technology In The U.S. Navy, Eddy Wayne Witzel

Dissertations

Problem and Purpose

Innovative solutions in national defense are needed to respond to national security threats in our uncertain environment. Leader attitudes and behaviors have a substantial impact on innovation. Unfortunately we did not completely understand the effect of leader attitudes and behaviors on innovation and the team dynamics that lead to innovation, especially in the military. The purpose of this study was to determine how leadership attitudes and behaviors contribute to product innovation within the U.S. Navy and how leadership emerges within this complex adaptive system of innovation.

Method

The research was a qualitative design based on a multiple …

Overcoming The Threat Of Racial Stereotyping In The Workplace, Jeremy Lamar Gray

Theses and Dissertations

There is a distinct possibility there may be many people of color who are in leadership positions or applying for leadership positions that believe racial stereotyping creates barriers for opportunity and can hinder one's chances for success. The purpose of this research is to explore strategies used by leaders of color to overcome the threat of racial stereotyping in the Las Vegas hospitality and gaming industry, as it pertains to barriers, opportunities, and success. There are four research questions the researcher explored through leadership, strategies, assimilation and performance. The sample size consisted of twelve leaders of color in the Las …

The Role Of Followership During Periods Of Absent Leadership, Robert Alan Leonard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

With a culture focused on leadership, the purpose in this study was to explore untested assumptions about followers and their being ignored as independent productive actors in the workplace. The lived experience of followers and their impact on the success or failure of organizations during periods of absent leadership was explored via 4 independent situations. A qualitative, phenomenological research design based primarily on the theoretical framework of Moustakas and the research design of Patton guided the study. The 3 key research questions were explored with regard to followers during periods of absent leadership: how they respond, what actions they take …

The Effect Of Shared Leadership On Workgroup Creativity, Simon Guive Minaee

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Research on leadership typically assumes a single leader who has managerial authority over the group, unit or organisation. Shared leadership is an emerging concept of leadership as a group-level phenomenon. It builds on antecedents such as democratic leadership, semi-autonomous and self-managed work groups, participative decision-making and co-leadership that are typically studied as variations of leadership by a single leader. Shared leadership is seen as more distributed, informal and emergent than these. Recent empirical research shows shared leadership can have beneficial effects on a variety of group process and outcome variables. However, so far its effects on creativity have not been …

Leadership Loss Within Independently-Controlled Protestant Churches: Protecting Against Leadership Turmoil And Turnover, Daniel L. Rundhaug

Dissertations

Throughout leadership research, limited focus has been given to the highest levels within independently controlled Protestant churches. Specifically, what accounts for the quality of relationship that exists between the senior pastor (recognized as the CEO of the organization) and the governing board to which he or she is responsible? This study examines the leadership relationship issue through the lens of a complementary leadership approach using Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory with transformational leadership and transactional leadership theories. In addition, several other questions were asked to identify potential other independent variables that contribute to the quality of the relationship between the two …

Educational Robotics As Leadership Development For Youth, Kathleen P. Morgan

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study explored how competitive educational robotics programs for youth contribute to the development of future innovative leaders in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The importance of leadership in creating a climate for innovation is recognized by scholars (Eisenbeiss, van Knippenberg, & Boerner, 2008; Oke, Munshi, & Walumbwa, 2009; Sarros, Cooper, & Santora, 2008) and educational robotics programs, like FIRST^® LEGO^® League (FLL), that include leadership development in their organizational missions. While youth interest in STEM and youth leadership development have been previously researched, the intersection of leadership development and STEM learning appears to be …

Narcissism And Accounting Majors, Jill C. Brown, Michael D. Akers, Don E. Giacomino

Accounting Faculty Research and Publications

Narcissism is a personality trait that varies in individuals much like other characteristics. Accordingly, narcissism can positively or negatively impact the leadership style and career of business leaders. While personality research has examined the level of narcissism in college-aged students over the past 30 years, only recently has limited research examined narcissism in business students. Prior research has not examined accounting students. Using the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), we assess the level of narcissism in accounting students at a public and private institution in the Midwest. Our findings show accounting students have a lower level of narcissism than other business …

Mapping The Intersection Of Teamwork And Leadership: An Analysis In The Fields Of Public Administration, Leadership And Management, Roger James Chin

Theses Digitization Project

This study employed content analysis methodology in order to analyze teamwork research focusing in leadership in the areas of public administration, leadership, and management. A total of 80 articles from 1999-2012 were analyzed from top academic journals in the selected fields. The area of leadership in teams is of great interest from the academic practical aspect of organizations. The role of teams in organizations has become an important research topic in theoretical, applied, and empirical research.

Organizational Culture As A Function Of Institutional Type In Higher Education, Jason Alexis Kaufman

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether organizational culture varies as a function of institutional type in higher education, and to identify whether there exists congruence between organizational culture type and leader behavior. Utilizing the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) developed by Cameron and Quinn (2011), data were collected from a sample of academic deans (n = 84) representing the colleges and universities across five states of the Upper Midwest. The results indicated a general trend toward clan cultures and congruent leader behavior for all institutional types (i.e., associate's colleges, baccalaureate colleges, master's colleges and universities, and …

Where's The Boss? The Influences Of Emergent Team Leadership Structures On Team Outcomes In Virtual And Distributed Environments, Marissa Shuffler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The influence of leadership on team success has been noted extensively in research and practice. However, as organizations move to flatter team based structures with workers communicating virtually across space and time, our conceptualization of team leadership must change to meet these new workplace demands. Given this need, the current study aims to begin untangling the effects of distribution and virtuality on team leadership structure and subsequent team outcomes that may be affected by differences in conceptualizing such structures. Specifically, the goals of this study were threefold. First, this study investigated how the physical distribution of members may impact perceptions …

The Influence Of K-12 Christian Education On Leadership Development, Jeffrey S. Mcmaster

Dissertations

Problem. Christian schools are an environment that intentionally works to bring coherence to a student’s moral and ethical development, which is a critical component of leadership development. It is then important to understand how the effect of that educational experience has carried over into the later development of leadership. However, there is very little study on the influence of Christian Kindergarten through 12th-grade education, let alone the influence of Christian education on leadership. Therefore the purpose of this study is to explore the influence of Christian education on leadership development as perceived by people in leadership positions.

Research Design. This …

Shared Leadership In Six Sigma Teams From The North Shore-Lij Health System, Brian J. Galli

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The main goal of the research was to identify the relationships that the internal research team environment and external coaching variables had with the degree of shared leadership in the context of Six Sigma teams from the North Shore LIJ Health System. Furthermore, the research ascertained the relationships that these variables had with two performance metrics: a team's ability to complete project deliverables and satisfy customer's requirements. This research also sought to understand additional factors that affected the five variables.

The research found that while shared leadership did not positively change as a team progressed through the phases of the …

An Exploration Of Leadership And Campus Cultural Orientation In A California Community College, Eduardo Cervantes

Doctoral Dissertations

This research explored transformational leadership and campus cultural orientation at a single California community college. The conceptual framework for the study consisted of the transformational leadership paradigm articulated by the full range leadership model (Bass & Avolio, 1994; Bass & Riggio, 2006). A taxonomy of campus cultural orientations was also employed to complement the full range leadership model (Jayakumar & Museus, 2012). The study showed that transactional leadership was used management of a business culture and maintaining a stable fiscal foundation. Transformational leadership was employed to create a diversity oriented campus culture that was leading toward an equity oriented campus …

Eight Key Principles To Transform Church Culture To Retain Ministry Leaders, Trent Lambert

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In today's culture, there is an ever-growing population of unchurched and dechurched within our local communities, not to mention dysfunctional leaders within the Church. This project attempts to create a healthy quality of life for ministry leaders that transcends into relevant evangelism and empowering discipleship. Based on scripture, segments of church history leadership styles, surveys of current ministry leaders, various books/articles, and personal perspectives this paper will delineate lessons to be learned and principles that are effective in the remodeling process. The principles within this project will show how church culture can transition from an antiquated paradigm of ministry to …

Perceptions Of Peer Leadership Among Honors Students, Christy M. Culbreth

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

My Capstone Experience/Thesis project seeks to explore and compare the perceptions of peer leadership among freshmen honors students who have received formal leadership training and freshmen honors students who have received no formal leadership training. Peer leadership plays an important role in all aspects of life. If students who have had formal leadership training have a more positive perception of their peer leaders, educators may want to put more peer leadership curriculum into their programs. This study tests the hypothesis that freshmen honors students who have received formal leadership training will have a more positive perception of their peer leaders. …

Leadership And Corporate Governance: Challenges For Bank Regulators, Lucy Surhyel Newman

Economic and Financial Review

Given likely challenges to obtaining legislative approvals on acceptable behaviour as foundational to good corporate governance practices, this paper recognizes the attendant challenges for bank regulators and recommends measures that Nigerian bank regulators can explore in enhancing their effectiveness in advocating for and where necessary, enforcing good corporate governance practices, based on universally defined pillars and elements of corporate governance.

How Far Can I Trust You? The Impact Of Distance And Cultural Values On Leaders’ Trustworthiness, Michelle C. Bligh

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Employees' level of trust in leaders has long been deemed an important key to successful organizational dynamics and performance. Utilizing survey data, the current study investigates differences in levels of trust between one's immediate manager and the organization's top leadership, the impact of individualism/collectivism on these levels of trust, and the influence of leader-follower distance on leadership trust. Results revealed higher levels of trust for direct leaders than organizational leaders among the U.S. sample. While individualism/collectivism was not found to significantly affect levels of leadership trust, perceptions of less leadership distance had a positive impact on levels of leadership trust.

Role Of Communication And Listening In Leadership, Kae Van Engen

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

In our world today, leadership is important in many organizations. Leaders create the opportunity to develop relationships based on listening. Listening is a multidimensional construct that requires further integration within leadership studies. This study aimed to seek the validity of focusing on listening within the study of leadership. The research promotes the understanding of the verbal and nonverbal characteristics of the listening process that have the greatest ability to influence a person’s leadership potential, as well as examining what leadership characteristics can influence a person’s listening. Understanding these characteristics presents evidence that listening deserves the recognition to be studied as …

Identifying Patterns In The Crucial Educational Leadership Constructs Used By The Most Cited Authors And Published Works Of 1990-2010, Sitalaiti Lotulelei

Theses and Dissertations

This study conducted a bibliometric analysis for the purpose of identifying the crucial leadership constructs that best explain and/or define effective educational leadership in two decades (1990-2000 and 2001-2010). The study reviewed top authors in educational leadership and analyzed their top cited works to identify leadership constructs which were (a) unique to leadership works within the 1990-2000 decade, (b) unique to the 2001-2010 decade, and c) similar or different between the two decades. The study found that the leadership constructs did evolve and shift during the study period and addressed the changing demands of individuals, educational organizations, and the external …

The Role Of Communication And Listening In Leadership, Elinor Kay Van Engen

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

In our world today, leadership is important in many organizations. Leaders create the opportunity to develop relationships based on listening. Listening is a multidimensional construct that requires further integration within leadership studies. This study aimed to seek the validity of focusing on listening within the study of leadership. The research promotes the understanding of the verbal and nonverbal characteristics of the listening process that have the greatest ability to influence a person’s leadership potential, as well as examining what leadership characteristics can influence a person’s listening. Understanding these characteristics presents evidence that listening deserves the recognition to be studied as …

Sustainability Leader Competencies: A Grounded Theory Study, Pamela G. Schwalb

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this critical qualitative study was to develop a theory of the competencies of a sustainability leader, grounded in research. A sustainability leader is generally described as an individual who creates profit for his/her stakeholders, while protecting the environment and improving the lives of those for whom he/she impacts as a result of his/her leadership. Nearly 60 individuals familiar with sustainability were asked to characterize an effective leader of a sustainability initiative or a sustainability organization.

The study revealed there is more than one way to be a sustainability leader—different paths can result in decisions and actions that …

Toward A Functional Followers’ Model In The Organizational Leadership Process, John Ekundayo

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

There are many researchers and practitioners who have at various times and situations defined the term leadership to suit their whims and caprices. A popular scholar in the field of management and leadership opined that “there are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are persons who have attempted to define the concept” (Bass, 1981, p. 11). There is no gainsaying the fact that in organizations, leadership plays a vital role almost on a daily basis. It is perhaps based on this premise that makes many practitioners and scholars to focus more on leaders when discussing or writing …

The Leadership Practice Of Museum Educators, Tina R. Nolan

Dissertations

This grounded theory study is an examination of the culture, context, conditions and competencies of a set of six museum educators from a large city in the United States. Participants were education department leaders from a variety of museum types, including: A science museum, an ethnic arts museum, a settlement house museum, a children‘s museum, an aquarium, and a zoo. An analysis of data points to an emerging framework that codifies particular leadership settings and domains of practice for leaders of museum educators. An array of data collections were employed in the study, including: Semi-structured interviews, unstructured observations, written reflections …

Shared Leadership As A Function Of Role Assignment And Task Difficulty In A Distributed Computer Game, Alexandra Proaps

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The use of computer game based architectures may help provide a safe, controlled environment in which geographically dispersed military units can develop leadership skills while rehearsing a specific task such as search and rescue. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among task difficulty, team task performance, role assignment and emergent leadership within a shared leadership model using a modified version of the popular video game, Half Life 2 ™. The researcher assessed leadership emergence through verbal content analysis methods that have only been employed in email and message boards media formats. Across levels of task difficulty …