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Workshop Series: Reflections On An Emerging Leadership Journey, Sanjay D. Paul

Doctor of Strategic Leadership (DSL) Capstone Abstracts

Defense Date

April 1, 2025

Candidate Name

Sanjay Paul

Personal Email Address

[email protected]

First Advisor

Dr. Emile Hawkins

Second Advisor

Dr. Debra Dean

DSL Final Project Abstract

Project Type

Global Conference Presentation

Project Overview

Reflections on an Emerging Leadership Journey is a PowerPoint presentation (of approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes) which designed to connect glo al interests in a way that can share best practices across an interdisciplinary front. Sanjay Paul shares ideas, observations, educational, volunteer, and professional experiences, along with his growth in the leadership journey. This journey can serve as a catalyst for others who are on …

Mitigating Burnout In Illinois Human Services Nonprofits: Exploring Leadership Strategies And Human Resource Practices, David Rivers

All Capstone Projects

In this qualitative study, the researcher sought to explore how nonprofit leaders perceive and respond to employee burnout through answering the research question, “What strategies do leaders of human service nonprofits within the Chicago area implement to reduce the burnout risk and mitigate its consequences, and do the servant leadership practices explain the organizational approaches towards the burnout issue?” The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with five leaders of Chicago-based human services nonprofit organizations to explore the prevalence of burnout, challenges that burnout presents to organizational mission, how they address burnout in their specific contexts, and what lingering challenges that threaten …

Influence Of Transformational Servant Leadership On Developing Urban Livability: A Case Study Of Kampala Capital City Authority In Uganda, Calvin Oule

PhD in Organizational Leadership

Transformational servant leadership is an emerging leadership concept that integrates the tenets of transformational leadership and servant leadership. The purpose of this research was to conduct a case study of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to explore how transformational servant leadership influences the development of urban livability. Since the investigation was a qualitative case study, data were collected through interviews with 10 KCCA leaders. Data were also gathered using document review. The study was guided by research questions that sought to understand the participants’ views on transformational servant leadership, urban livability, and the role of transformational servant leadership in developing …

The Narrative Inquiries Of How Community School Directors Implement Servant Leadership At Full-Service Community Schools In New York City, Stephen R. Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children and their families face increased barriers to accessing programs in low-income communities. In response to this concern, community schools employ community school directors (CSDs) who connect students and families with essential services across organizational boundaries. This study was designed to provide insight into the leadership characteristics of the CSD as a servant leader by determining if they engage with any of the 10 servant leadership qualities described by Spears (2010). There is limited research on the leadership practices of CSDs in low socioeconomic status areas. It is therefore necessary to conduct research on how CSDs foster collaboration between schools …

How Servant Leaders Navigate Conflict: An Analysis Of Acts 15:36–41, Joshua D. Henson, Justin R. Craun

Selected Faculty Publications

Greenleaf’s foundational work on servant leadership has evolved considerably over the past 50 years. Servant leadership has been found to have positive outcomes on group and organisational effectiveness. While servant leadership characteristics and outcomes have been measured, is a need to be better understand how servant leaders navigate when they disagree. Using a social and cultural analysis, the conflict between Paul and Barnabas is explored. Social and cultural analysis allows interpreters to understand what the characters in the narrative ‘see and hear.’ The analysis of Acts 15:36–41 yielded three emerging themes related to how these servant leaders navigated conflict: (1) …

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 …

Exploring Servant Leadership In A Top-Down Environment, Roosevelt Mareus, Kathleen Patterson, Steve Firestone, Bruce E. Winston

Servant Leadership: Theory & Practice

This study used both Greenleaf's (1977) theory of servant leadership and Spears’s (1995) ten characteristics of servant leadership to explore the concept in a top-down environment. The study proposed to answer the research question: To what extent, if any, is a mayor of a metropolitan area in the Northeast region of the USA displaying at work the ten characteristics of servant leadership as defined by Spears? This study used an exploratory single-case study design and purposeful sampling techniques. The methodology consisted of in-depth, semistructured, open-ended interview with leaders from the community and employees from each of the various departments throughout …

Leadership In Christian Higher Education: The Impact Of Different Leadership Styles On Students, Montana Lynn Hancock

Selected Honors Theses

This is an expanded literature review of leadership in Christian higher education institutions, and how leaders and their leadership style, servant, transformational, transactional, and passive-avoidant, impact developmental factors of students such as academic excellence, professional development, ethical and moral development, faith, and spiritual development. This paper is looking directly at the components of colleges and universities that are members of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). The expanded literature review analyzed research previously conducted and determined that transformational leadership is the most impactful leadership style on the developmental factors of students that were looked at include academic excellence, …

When Servant Leaders Appear Laissez-Faire: The Effect Of Social Identity Prototypes On Christian Leaders, Jeff Singfiel

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

Servant leadership is the most recognizable approach to leadership in Christian organizations. Understanding that their organization endorses servant leadership, or believing Christian leaders should be servants, Some Christian leaders choose to believe that they lead in this tradition, regardless of the perspective of their followers. These Christian leaders may earnestly believe themselves to be servant leaders but appear laissez-faire to their followers. In this study, the author reviews servant and laissez-faire leadership theories. He then proposes that social identity theory explains how leaders can be hijacked by social identity, which unconsciously influences them to self-identify as servants without manifesting the …

Ministerial Leadership: The Servant Leader As A Transformational Leader, Remi Alapo

Publications and Research

This paper provides a different meaning on the role of the Pastor or Ministry Leader as a “servant leader” referencing the text—“Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry” by William H. Willimon (2002),1 where the author describes the ordained ministry as “a is a gift of God to the church” which usually does not mean that it is an easy task but rather, more complex and challenging as ministry leaders or pastors feel a call to transforming societies beyond their calling. In post-modern society, the pastors’ role has differed and extended to form in line with creating a just …

Servant Leaders As Change Agents, Janice P. Tanno, David K. Banner

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

Servant leadership (SL) produces high performance and employee engagement. Non-SL senior leaders lacking business ethics have caused negative outcomes. This study explored the lived experiences of senior leaders’ decision-making in SL organizations. Maslow’s theories, decision theory, spirituality, Cicero’s virtue theory of ethics; SL comprised the theoretical/conceptual foundation. Data collection used purposive sampling of 18 senior leader participants in SL organizations employing Giorgi’s descriptive psychological structures of experiences analysis method. Findings confirmed ethical decision-making in SL organizations. Recommendations included examining CEO ethical leadership and firm performance interrelations and promoting ethical decision-making at all levels. Conclusions supported teamwork as the one …

A Case Study Of E-Leadership Constructs: An Assessment Of Leadership In A Healthcare Organization, Kevin James Lovelace

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to identify the components of e-leadership theory and how it can be used to teach healthcare leaders to develop virtual teams in a healthcare organization. This study will define a way in which leaders can use e-leadership components to increase the efficacy of virtual teams. In particular, this study will examine the perceptions executive leaders have of e-leadership constructs.

This study used a mixed method concurrent triangulation design to examine perceptions of e-leadership theory which may be used to improve the efficacy of virtual teams. The e-leadership theory as a construct was first measured …

Assessing Servant Leadership In Athletic Training Clinical Education, Cheree N. Sauer

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"The purpose of this study was to examine 1) if students felt servant leadership was present within the Approved Clinical Instructors (ACI's) of the programs surveyed; and 2) if those students who perceived their ACI's to be servant leaders also had more student satisfaction, and greater student success. Based on the literature search conducted, there was little to no research found on servant leadership in athletic training clinical education, especially from the athletic training students' perspective. Responses were obtained from 11 of the 27 Athletic Training Education Programs that were randomly selected for participation. Bivariate correlations were run on the …

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 …

An Analysis Of Participation In Servant Leadership As Self Reported By Elementary School Principals In Southwest Georgia, Barbara Perryman Williams

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Servant leadership is an approach to leadership that holds promise in the school setting because of the nature of the principalship. The current educational climate created by the No Child Left Behind Act, funding cuts, and principal shortages increases the importance of leadership within the schools. Utilization of the approach has been reported in business, but it was less clear if school leaders by practice model servant leadership in elementary schools. The purpose of this mixed methods research study was to determine the extent that elementary school principals in Southwest Georgia participated in the servant leadership model. The researcher administered …

Leadership In Faith-Based Social Service Organizations, Veronica Esqueda

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to examine leadership in faith based social service organizations. The issue that this researcher addressed is leadership styles in faith-based social service organizations and character traits of spirit led servant leaders. This study addressed the issue of spiritual leadership because recent research implies that spirituality and leadership are important factors that contribute to the healthy human development of indviduals. Many social workers find the assumptions, beliefs, and values of the Christian faith helpful in providing a frame of reference for understanding and responding to both individual and societal problems. There were 35 self-assessment servant …

Testing A Servant Leadership Theory Among United States Military Members, Matthew P. Earnhardt

Publications

Servant leadership, first proposed by Greenleaf (1970), is an emergent leadership theory postulating a leader must serve first. Patterson (2003), building on transformational and previous servant leadership research, developed a model of servant leading based on the following: (a) agapao love, (b) humility, (c) altruism, (d) vision, (e) trust, (f) empowerment, and (g) service. This study tests Patterson’s theory of servant leadership in a military context by investigating the relationship between the seven constructs in Patterson’s servant leadership model. Multi-rank and service military members’ perception of servant leaders was assessed using the servant leadership instrument developed by Dennis and Bocarnea …