Business Commons^™

The Role Of Leadership In Facilitating The Performance Of Dispersed Teamwork, Jaime Beth Newell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A mature body of research on leadership has investigated the impact of a variety of leadership behaviors and styles on team performance. This corpus of work is built on an assumption that team leaders can motivate, direct, and monitor teams by way of sustained, personal contact with team members. However, this assumption is being challenged by recent advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs). Use of ICTs has altered traditional team-based structures, enabling organizations to employ teams composed of members who are dispersed across geographic boundaries, while severing the direct, personal ties leaders have to team members. Recent reviews of …

Faith, Spirituality, And Sustainability, C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

This speech was delivered at the University of Arkansas's Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace (Fayetteville, AR). In it Pollard considers the 2008 financial crisis, which he believes requires business leaders to adopt new models of leadership and new ways of educating future managers. Such measures will ensure that corporate firms will always consider profit alongside the more significant goal of forming moral character.

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

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

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 …

Serving Two Masters? Reflections On God And Profit, C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

In this public lecture at Ambrose University (Calgary, Canada), Pollard contends that profit can be considered virtuous when it allows servant leaders to invest in employees, thereby contributing to the moral and spiritual formation of human beings.

The Role Of The Pmo, Lynn Crawford

Lynn Crawford

For more than 50 years the so-called modern project management has been a continuously growing discipline. Initially developed for the management of major projects in special sectors, it is now part of most industries and organizations. In line with this development, the number and complexity of projects in organizations has increased substantially, enlarging the economic importance of projects. Today, managers not only need to know the basics of project management. Successful project management also requires knowledge of the complex interactions between projects and the permanent part of the organization and of the social processes within and between project teams. For …

Leaders Of Today Are Challenged By Generation X Workforce Retention, Joyce K. Kutin

Joyce K Kutin RN, MSN, MOL

Many organizations today are comprised of a culturally diverse workforce. In addition to organizational diversity related to gender, ethnicity, race, or religious beliefs, there are also four different generations working side by side. Today’s workforce includes the Silent Generation, the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y. The Silent Generation is known for their lifestyle approach of consistency, uniformity, conformity, law and order, hard work and playing by the rules. Baby Boomers were the first generation to grow up with television; they were the first to have broad access to news, issues, advertising, and a variety of programming. Generation X …

Book Review: Adapt: Why Success Always Starts With Failure, Aaron W. Hughey

Counseling & Student Affairs Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Strategic Leadership And Innovation In High Technology Firms, Terri Scandura

Terri A. Scandura

Did you ever wonder what the organizations that produce some of the high tech gadgets we marvel at such as the IPhone and the Blu-ray player are like? How do their leaders create and maintain a spirit of innovation that produces these hit products? High technology firms face unique challenges because of the fast paced and ever-changing landscape of their industry. Intellectual capital and innovation have become the key sources of competitive advantage in a wide range of industries and many have argued that the key to the future competitiveness of organizations in the U.S and abroad is the ability …

Leadership & Organizational Change, Terri A. Scandura Phd, Monica Sharif

Terri A. Scandura

In recent years, change has occurred within almost all organizations. Downsizing, relocations, restructuring, technological changes, mergers, process-oriented changes and people-oriented changes are happening on a daily basis. Therefore it is necessary to study the influence organizational change has on important organizational variables. We conducted a study examining reactions to different types of organizational change. We specifically looked at the extent to which employees trust their organization during different types of organizational change.

Managing Toxic Leaders: Dysfunctional Patterns In Organizational Leadership And How To Deal With Them, Marco Tavanti

Marco Tavanti

This study reviews different typologies of toxic leaders in organizations-from bullies to narcissistic leaders. Unfortunately, toxic leaders are a painful but common reality in many organizations. Their destructive behaviors and dysfunctional personal characteristics often generate enduring poisonous effects on those they lead. They are identified by selfish outcomes in their decision-making and how they leave subordinates worse off than when they began. What distinguishes excellent from average managers is their ability to effectively manage dysfunctional leaders in the workplace. Even though some organizations may promote or simply tolerate toxic leaders for economic or political reasons, the long-term impact on the …

Leadership & Organizational Change, Terri A. Scandura Phd, Monica Sharif

Management Faculty Articles and Papers

In recent years, change has occurred within almost all organizations. Downsizing, relocations, restructuring, technological changes, mergers, process-oriented changes and people-oriented changes are happening on a daily basis. Therefore it is necessary to study the influence organizational change has on important organizational variables. We conducted a study examining reactions to different types of organizational change. We specifically looked at the extent to which employees trust their organization during different types of organizational change.

The Virtue Of Profit (Boston), C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

Speaking at a ministry conference hosted by Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Boston, MA), Pollard contends that profit can be considered virtuous when it allows servant leaders to invest in employees, thereby contributing to the moral and spiritual formation of human beings.

A Typology Of Virtual Teams: Implications For Effective Leadership, Bradford S. Bell, Steve W. J. Kozlowski

Bradford S Bell

As the nature of work in today's organizations becomes more complex, dynamic, and global, there has been an increasing emphasis on far-flung, distributed, virtual teams as organizing units of work. Despite their growing prevalence, relatively little is known about this new form of work unit. The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical framework to focus research toward understanding virtual teams and, in particular, to identify implications for effective leadership. Specifically, we focus on delineating the dimensions of a typology to characterize different types of virtual teams. First, we distinguish virtual teams from conventional teams to identify where …

Design, Implementation, And Evaluation Of Hr Leadership Development Programs, Karina Li Ming Kuok, Bradford S. Bell

Bradford S Bell

Given today’s new market reality and rapid changes in the business world, companies need to select and develop high potential talent who can maneuver in a hypercompetitive market and ultimately fill its top-tier jobs. Organizations can utilize the Human Resource Leadership Development Program (HRLDP) as a tool to attract, develop and retain high potentials to fill the future HR leadership pipeline. However, an HRLDP can be controversial and tricky to implement and maintain. The goal of this report is to provide useful guidelines for those interested in designing, managing and/or evaluating the effectiveness of such programs. If carefully designed and …

Thinking About Leadership By Nanerl Keohane (Featured Publication & Author Interview), Susan R. Madsen

Susan R. Madsen

Our guest interviewer this month is Susan R. Madsen. Susan is an associate professor of management at Utah Valley University and an independent leadership and change consultant. She interviewed author Nannerl O. Keohane is the Laurance S. Rockefeller Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Affairs and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University and former president of Wellesley College and Duke University. She is the author of Higher Ground: Ethics and Leadership in the Modern University and Philosophy and the State in France: The Renaissance to the Enlightenment.

Hospitality Leadership, Dissatisfaction And Intent To Leave Among Multigenerational Groupings, Thomas A. Maier

Thomas A. Maier

This study examines generational similarities and differences in terms of; perceptions hospitality employees have of leadership, dissatisfaction and intent to leave within their organization.

Stories Of Resistance: Black Women Corporate Executives Opposing Gendered (Everyday) Racism, Cheryl D. Jordan

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

For this research, I explored contemporary resistance strategies that Black women executives in the corporate world use to oppose negative behaviors by others associated with their race and gender. The dissertation reviews scholarship about the major role the convergence of race and gender play in the day-to-day existence of Black women. Historically, negative images and beliefs have influenced the treatment of Black women in society. These same thoughts and images affect Black women executives in today’s workplace. African-American women continue to see limited advancement to senior levels within the corporate organization, even though diversity programs abound. As leaders in the …

The Shift In Coaching Dynamics During Long-Term Business Coaching Relationships, Axel Meierhoefer

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

The focus of this dissertation was on the changes in long-term external business coaching relationships (defined as more than 4 months). The current study intended to answer two questions: (a) how does the relationship between a coach and a coachee change in long-term coaching engagements? and (b) how do these changes impact the coaching process dynamics and results? The phenomenon that was discovered through this research is called the shift moment. It exemplifies the transition from skill or problem oriented issues, which often represent the original cause of the coaching relationship, to the holistic transformation of the coachee. A qualitative …

Narrative Approach To Corporate Strategy: Empirical Foundations, Michael S. Carriger

WCBT Faculty Publications

Purpose - This paper aims to present theoretical and empirical foundations for the use of a particular type of narrative skillfully deployed by senior leaders in an organization as an effective tool for creating, disseminating and executing corporate strategy. Design/methodology/approach - The paper presents original research on the effectiveness of the use of a "springboard story" as a leadership tool. Findings - Data are presented to substantiate that a "springboard story" presentation of corporate strategy and competitive advantage is more effective at producing a consistent and confident choice of competitive advantage among an audience than a presentation of corporate strategy …