Digital Commons Network^™

Leadership Characteristics And Team Outcomes In The Development Of A Marketing Web Page, Garry L. White, Karen H. Smith

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Team structures are changing under the pressures of e-commerce and globalization. Today teams have to manage the challenges of working across functional boundaries, such as marketing and web development. In such an environment, research in the disciplines of management and psychology have found that shared leadership among team members may be superior to traditional leadership by a single team member, but this notion has not been tested in the contexts of marketing and web development. This paper presents the results of an empirical study showing that teams with shared leadership exhibited better performance and greater member satisfaction than teams with …

Group Processes, Donelson R. Forsyth, Jeni Burnette

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Social behavior is often group behavior. People are in many respects individuals seeking their personal, private objectives, yet they are also members of social collectives that bind members to one another. The tendency to join with others is perhaps the most important single characteristic of humans. The processes that take place within these groups influence, in fundamental ways, their members and society-at-large. Just as the dynamic processes that occur in groups--such as the exchange of information among members, leading and following, pressures put on members to adhere to the group's standards, shifts in friendship alliances, and conflict and collaboration-change the …

Inclusive Leadership And Employee Involvement In Creative Tasks In The Workplace: The Mediating Role Of Psychological Safety, Abraham Carmeli, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Enbal Ziv

Psychology Faculty Publications

This study examines how inclusive leadership (manifested by openness, accessibility, and availability of a leader) fosters employee creativity in the workplace. Using a sample of 150 employees, we investigated the relationship between inclusive leadership (measured at Time 1), psychological safety, and employee involvement in creative work tasks (measured at Time 2). The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis indicate that inclusive leadership is positively related to psychological safety, which, in turn, engenders employee involvement in creative work.

A Study Of The Application Of The Concepts Of Karen Horney In Leadership Development Within The National Management Association Of The Boeing Company, Frank Z. Nunez

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the usefulness of the personality theories of Karen Horney in leadership development. The Horney concepts examined are: (a) the basic anxiety, (b) the real and idealized self, (c) the self-defeating cycle, and (d) the three movements of people. The research questions guiding this inquiry are: Will professionals who are willing to develop their leadership capabilities find the theories of Karen Horney useful in that pursuit? How can these concepts contribute to deeper self-awareness? How can deeper self-awareness generated from these concepts influence a leader's development? The literature review indicates that Karen Horney's concepts are used by leadership …

Leadership And The More-Important-Than-Average Effect: Overestimation Of Group Goals And The Justification Of Unethical Behavior, Crystal L. Hoyt, Terry L. Price, Alyson E. Emrick

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

This research investigates the empirical assumptions behind the claim that leaders exaggerate the importance of their group’s goals more so than non-leaders and that they may use these beliefs to justify deviating from generally accepted moral requirements when doing so is necessary for goal achievement. We tested these biased thought processes across three studies. The results from these three studies established the more-important-than-average effect, both for real and illusory groups. Participants claimed that their group goals are more important than the goals of others, and this effect was stronger for leaders than for non-leading group members. In Study 3, …

Groups And Teams, Crystal L. Hoyt, Donelson R. Forsyth

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

To understand leaders and leadership, one must understand groups and their dynamics. Leadership can occur across great distances, as when a leader influences followers who are distributed across differing contexts, but in many cases leadership occurs in an intact group that exists in a specific locale: Teams, boards, advisory councils, and classrooms arc all examples of groups that work toward shared goals with, in many cases, the help and guidance of a leader. Leadership can be considered a set of personality traits or a specific set of behaviors enacted by an individual, but an interpersonal, group-level conceptualization considers Ieadership to …

Building Level Principals As Change Agents In A Response To Intervention Reform Initiative, Kristen Elizabeth Ninni

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the principal in a systems change effort. Utilizing Response to Intervention (RtI) as a means of studying principals as change agents, this researcher examined the principals' ability to implement and sustain a reform effort such as RtI as perceived by the principal, problem solving team, and teachers. This study examined how the perceptions influenced the change process and the extent to which the principal demonstrated characteristics of change such as knowledge of change, self-efficacy or their belief in their ability to make changes, and skills of change as supported …

Spiritual Abuse In The Christian Community, Barbara Olivia Berry

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The 'Where' And 'How' Of Exploration And Exploitation: Balancing Leadership Styles To Drive Innovation And Performance, Ann Kowal Smith

Student Scholarship

Using a global sample of public companies, we explored the relationships among transformational and transactional leadership, exploration and exploitation and performance. First, balanced leadership styles drive more innovative learning outcomes than either single style. Second, elements of an expanded framework of innovative learning, including “where” ideas are sourced and “how” they are shared, fully mediate the relationship between leadership and performance. Specifically, “how” drives earnings growth and “where” drives revenue growth. We propose a nuanced ambidexterity, whereby leaders balance not only exploration and exploitation, but also idea sourcing and idea sharing to unleash their organization’s collective wisdom and drive performance.

Expanding Leader Capability: An Exploratory Study Of The Effect Of Daily Practices For Leader Development, Simon Rakoff

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Leadership is, at its essence, an influence relationship between people. Leaders are often thought of as those who are able to influence people to take actions oriented toward achieving specific goals and objectives. While many books have been written, and myriad scholarly research studies conducted enumerating countless personal characteristics, qualities, and skills of the exemplary leader, little has been done to understand and convey the ways in which an individual might go about cultivating these virtues; which are often said to include charisma, empathy, communication skills, and others. Through a multiple single-subject design, this research examines the individual-level effect of …

Eutopiagraphies: Narratives Of Preferred Future Selves With Implications For Developmental Coaching, Florence Anne Diehl

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Eutopiagraphy is a narrative of a preferred future self that extends the research tradition of biography and autobiography. Taking place at the intersection of adult development, futures studies, and the practice of developmental coaching, this research asked the question, “what can eutopiagraphy reveal about a client’s meaning-making that may inform a coaching relationship, goals, and outcomes?” Using an adapted form of the subject-object interview, and subsequent thematic analysis, the eutopiagraphies of eight participants were collected and studied. Structures of constructive-developmental theory (values, view of others, range of perspective, control, and responsibility) were identified and constructive-developmental stages were estimated. This work …

Cross-Race Relationships As Sites Of Transformation: Navigating The Protective Shell And The Insular Bubble, Karen Audrey Geiger

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The context of leadership has evolved to incorporate greater social identity differences. Therefore, learning ways to navigate differences in social identity becomes important work leaders must now do. Because these differences surface in relationship with others, examining a relational framework helps us understand the nature of what happens between people (Ely & Roberts, 2008). This study explored the processes by which Black African American and White European American women enact leadership by creating and sustaining cross-race relationships as they work to change unjust systems around them. Using grounded theory methodology (Charmaz, 2006; Strauss & Corbin, 1990), a model was developed …

Strategic Asymmetric Multicultural Alliances In Business, Anthony James Scriffignano

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Global economics and other factors make it increasingly difficult for organizations to operate within the boundaries of one country in a rational way (e.g., leveraging best practices, profitable, achieving goals). In this study, I looked at strategic business alliances, transcending simple quid pro quo relationships to deliver ongoing partner value. I refined my study to multicultural relationships, having differing cultural identities (i.e., ideas, heritage, language, or demographics from differing geographies). Finally, I considered asymmetry (i.e., inequity in working relationship). Using a mixed-methodology design, I surveyed alliance participants and interviewed participants from selected alliances. A multi-case study addresses emergent themes of …

The Religious Spirituality Of An Indiana Public School Leader And Its Influence On The School, Peters Timothy St.

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As schools expand secularization and laws limiting religious expression increase, one must not forget the religious spirituality of the individual. Individual religious spirituality is still protected under the United States Constitution. Many researchers feel that this religious spirituality should be nurtured, not discouraged in public schools. Multiple studies seen in the literature review show that spiritual and religious commitment directly leads to increased academic success and decreased risk taking behaviors in students. The school leader has the ability to encourage, foster, and enrich religious spirituality in students while following established law regarding the separation of church and state. All along, …

Positive Connection Leads To Student Success, Diane C. Leavitt Ma

All Student Scholarship

This study focuses on the impact of positive adult connections on high school students’ success. The data is from of one southern Maine high school with a population of 1,050 students. The data includes overall school-wide results of student connectedness, as well as in-depth results from nine student interviews. The researcher’s intent was to demonstrate the need for continued mentoring efforts for high school students. It does appear from this study that adult mentoring programs have a positive effect on student success. The study also indicates that further research regarding the impact of student mentoring programs in high schools is …

The Perspectives Of First-Year Principals Regarding Their Experiences With Mentors And The Mentoring Process Within The Louisiana Educational Leaders Induction (Leli) Program, Sabrah Helms Kingham

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Are new school administrators prepared for the surprises, obstacles, and opportunities they are likely to encounter during the first-year in their new role? Sadly enough, too many new leaders do not feel prepared to meet the challenges of their new role as an administrator. In 2006, the National Center for Education Statistics (2006) reported that there were 95,726 administrators in the U. S. Within this pool of administrators, approximately 127 were new hires in the state of Louisiana (LDE, 2006). In an effort to find ways to support, guide, and retain new principals, the Louisiana Educational Leaders Network, under the …

Voice And Volume Of Leader Self-Awareness, Michael J.M. Mcdonald

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study proposed that the level of self-awareness possessed by a leader has a direct relationship with the engagement level of the team he or she leads. A quantitative approach using the results of self-other leadership ratings and team engagement ratings were examined to explain employee engagement through perceptions of leadership awareness.

By understanding leadership through the integration of two instruments, one designed to measure seven specific demands of leadership (the L7 instrument) and another to measure employee engagement on twelve dimensions (the Q12 instrument), this study explored the relationship between leader self-awareness and the effect of that awareness on …

Spirituality At Work In A Changing World: Managerial And Research Implications, Eugene Geh, Gilbert Tan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper identifies the seminal works of key theorists in the field of spirituality and traces the development of the key ideas of spirituality at the workplace in relation to their relevance in today's organizational context. We examine how having a healthy orientation towards spirituality at work can lead to desirable individual and organizational outcomes. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding the rapidly changing workplace and its future directions by first uncovering the rationale behind the evolution of management thought since the introduction of Taylor's scientific management and then, by examining the various stages of economic development and as well …

The Leadership Styles Of Social Work Educators., Patricia Louise Desrosiers 1969-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study are twofold: (1) to describe the leadership styles of social workers in educational administration and (2) to explain possible differences in leadership style by determining if context or gender or a combination of both factors influences style. This study will explore and describe the leadership styles of social work education administrators in the United States. The research design was a cross-sectional survey design and utilized multiple methods, both qualitative and quantitative, to achieve its purposes. Leadership styles were explored primarily through the collection of quantitative data in the form of a scale: the MLQ 5x-Short …

Board Level Strategic Decision-Making: Process Characteristics And Context, Bernard C. Bailey

Student Scholarship

How do boards make strategic decisions? Semi-structured interviews with twenty eight directors of small to medium size publicly traded U.S. companies in the high technology sector were conducted in order to gain insights into strategic decision-making at the board level. We identified six characteristics that distinguish two divergent views about strategic decision-making. These characteristics include the role of the board chair, the boardroom climate, the board's shared vision and goals, the board's agency primacy, the board's process for decision closure and the board's level of involvement in the strategic planning process.

Board Level Strategic Decision-Making: Process Characteristics And Context, Bernard C. Bailey

Student Scholarship

How do boards make strategic decisions? Semi-structured interviews with twenty eight directors of small to medium size publicly traded U.S. companies in the high technology sector were conducted in order to gain insights into strategic decision-making at the board level. We identified six characteristics that distinguish two divergent views about strategic decision-making. These characteristics include the role of the board chair, the boardroom climate, the board's shared vision and goals, the board's agency primacy, the board's process for decision closure and the board's level of involvement in the strategic planning process.

Managing The Mission Through Times Of Adversity: What Leads To Reliable Nonprofit Performance?, Kathleen Roche

Student Scholarship

During times of severe economic adversity, nonprofit organizations must carry out their charitable missions to ever-growing and needier constituencies despite endowment erosion, dwindling contributions, reduced staff, and severe funding cuts. The literature tells us little about what nonprofit organizations and managers actually do to survive economic crises. In depth interviews with leaders of a wide range of U.S. nonprofit organizations compared and contrasted crisis management experiences, revealing that, regardless of size and operation tenure, those best situated to emerge from severe and sudden revenue loss had energized, outwardly focused leaders and actively engaged boards, many volunteers, greatly extended hours of …

From Esteem To Stigma: The Effect Of The Financial Crisis On Banker Engagement, Glen Weaver

Student Scholarship

Absent from a quickly accumulating literature on job engagement is a focus on professionals in the financial industry. There is, in particular, little research on the organization or industry identity of bankers as a discrete group. Nor has the literature explored the relationship of these identities with job engagement or environmental duress. We seized an opportunity to study the effects of the 2007-2009 financial crisis on bankers' identities and passion for their jobs. Semi-structured interviews with 28 mid-level bankers at five prominent US banks that accepted Toxic Asset Relief Program funding (TARP) captured insights about "normal state" (pre-crisis) versus mid-crisis …

Crosscutting Issues In International Transformation: Interactions And Innovations Among People, Organizations, Processes, And Technology, Derrick J. Neal, Henrik Friman, Ralph Doughty, Linton Wells Ii

Books

This book is a compilation of papers presented at the International Transformation Conference in Stockholm, Sweden on June 2-3, 2009. The conference was hosted by the Swedish Defence Research Agency, FOI. The papers are organized according to the categories of culture, interagency, transformation initiatives, leadership, and adaptive organizations.

The complexities of the task make definitions of transformation a challenge and often open to debate. The unpredictable nature of the future international security environment defies a tightly bounded definition so the International Transformation Chairs have adopted an inclusive description: “Transformation is a process that shapes the changing nature of competition and …

Community Voices—A Leadership Program Making A Difference In Rural Underserved Counties In North Carolina, Jane T. Walker, Benjamin Gray

Journal of Extension

Leadership is critically important to rural communities. The study reported here compared the leadership practices of leaders who are graduates of Community Voices Leadership Development for Community Decision Making (CV), a leadership program, to leaders who did not participate in the program. A telephone survey, which included questions from a modified version of the Leadership Practices Inventory (Kouzes & Posner, 1993), was used to collect the data. The study provides evidence that the CV program implemented in rural underserved counties in North Carolina is making a difference in the practices of rural leaders who have undergone the training.

An Examination Of The Impact Of Organizational Restructuring On Identification Within Extension, Cynthia B. Torppa, Keith L. Smith

Journal of Extension

Many Extension organizations enjoy strong Organizational Identification (OI) among personnel. But organizational change may negatively influence identification, and many Extension organizations have been changing the way they serve their publics. To examine the impact of change on OI, we compared Extension personnel's OI scores following a major restructuring to OI scores gathered during a period of relative stability reported in previous research from another Extension organization. Findings indicated that OI scores were slightly lower following restructuring; however, the pattern of scores across four targets (Extension, program area, counties, and centers) remained constant, suggesting personnel will rarely identify with mid-level targets.

The Experiences Of Arab Women Leaders In Learning To Lead, Susan R. Madsen

Marketing and Strategy Faculty Publications

To consider designing and developing leadership programs for women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it is important to understand how current leaders have learned to lead throughout their lives. In-depth, qualitative interviews were conducted with Arab women leaders (government and business) to investigate their lifetime experiences in developing leadership.

To Build Resilience: Leader Influence On Mental Hardiness, Paul T. Bartone, Charles L. Barry, Robert E. Armstrong

Defense Horizons

The military profession is inherently stressful and is getting more so for U.S. troops, who are deploying more often and for longer periods of time on missions that are multifaceted, changeable, and ambiguous. Such stressful conditions can lead to a range of health problems and performance decrements even among leaders. But not everyone reacts in negative ways to environmental stress. Most people remain healthy and continue to perform well even in the face of high stress levels. While much attention in recent years has focused on identifying and treating stress-related breakdowns such as post-traumatic stress disorder, scant investment has gone …

The Cultural Imperative For Professional Military Education And Leader Development, Allison Abbe, Stanley M. Halpin

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

The Leading Edge, V. 1, Issue 1, Fall 2009

The Leading Edge: the Newsletter of the University of Maryland School of Law's Leadership, Ethics and Democracy Initiative

No abstract provided.