Business Commons^™

Artists On Creative Administration, Tonya Lockyer

University of Akron Press Publications

Brilliant artists share stories on artistic life and business, full of lessons we can all learn about living a creative life. Featuring the voices of thirty artists and arts workers, Artists on Creative Administration: A Workbook from the National Center for Choreography provides first-hand accounts of creative administration in action. The book pairs big topics with actionable tactics, addressing themes like equity, activism, design thinking, leadership, collaboration, family, ethics, and care. Provocative, candid essays and interviews expand our view of what creativity and leadership can be, as each chapter closes with experiments for the reader to try and adapt to …

How Leaders Make Sense Of Esg To Lead Sustainable Businesses: Multiple Case Studies, Tiffany M. Crosby

PhD in Organizational Leadership

This multiple case qualitative research study involved an exploration of ESG leadership in four publicly-traded Midwestern U.S. sustainability-oriented companies to determine what the process of leading ESG looks like, how sustainability leaders integrate environmental, social, and economic goals, and how an organization’s internal and external affect sustainability leadership. Numerous quantitative studies have linked prevailing behavioral leadership theories to improved financial performance outcomes for sustainability-oriented companies, but qualitative research into ESG leadership practices has been limited, creating a gap that is addressed through this study. Using a conceptual framework grounded in upper-echelon and stakeholder theories, the ESG leadership practices of an …

Embracing Change With Power And Love: Shifting Organizational Paradigms Leveraging Systems Thinking, Brandi R. Muñoz

Tapestry: Journal of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in Education

This article delves into the complexities of organizational change, emphasizing the critical roles of power and love in facilitating successful transitions. It distinguishes between the generative and degenerative effects of power and love within organizational contexts and underscores the importance of balancing these elements to foster collaboration, innovation, and sustainable change. Furthermore, the principles of systems thinking are highlighted, advocating for a holistic approach to understanding and analyzing organizational systems. The interconnectedness of system components and the necessity of feedback loops for informed decision-making and strategic planning are examined. Additionally, the article discusses the detrimental impact of overconfidence bias on …

Leading Change During Crisis: Nonprofit Leaders’ Experiences During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jose A. Diaz Jr.

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to discover which experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic led to leadership and organizational changes within nonprofit organizations located in southern Florida. Data for the study were collected by interviewing leaders of five nonprofit organizations that provided human and social services to individuals and families before, during, and after the pandemic. The participants discussed some of the challenges they experienced with social distancing protocols, service delivery continuity to service users, and the concerns among staff and volunteers. Four themes were common among the participants of the study: operational restrictions, technological adaptations, staff morale and …

The Impact Of Resilience On A Middle Manager’S Resistance To Organizational Change, April D. Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Change is never ending in organizations, as it is necessary to maintain a competitive advantage. Although change is needed, research shows most change implementations do not succeed.

Middle managers (MMs) are considered the main facilitators of change. They receive directive for change and are tasked with not only processing and accepting the change but also communicating the directive down into the ranks and executing upon it. This basic qualitative study explored how resilience can aid an MM when implementing change, where resistance is present. The conceptual framework for this study included Lewin’s (1947) three-stage model of change theory and the …

Enhancing Employee Voice In Government: Transparency, Trust, And Cognitive Empowerment, Jomarie Phelan Honcoop

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For organizational change to take root, develop, and realize the desired goals and benefits, employees are increasingly asked to be an integral part of the change process, to speak up and use their voice to point out areas to improve and ways to be more efficient. Organizations and managers must create a climate where this employee voice, a multidimensional construct comprised of promotive and prohibitive voice, is encouraged and heard, and where the employee is empowered to effect change and make improvements. Both types of voice are potent mechanisms for improving public services, and government organizations in particular, as compared …

A Phenomenological Study On The Lived Experience And Leadership Of Project Managers In An Agile Transformation, Randall Hopkins

Doctor of Education Program Dissertations

This study employed a phenomenological methodology to investigate the shared experiences of project managers of corporations in the United States during a transition to agile project management methodologies. The project managers’ transformation was noteworthy because agile introduces a change in work structures, processes, and leadership. This study sought to understand how eight project managers described their lived experience and leadership during the transition to agile methodologies. Interviews with project managers uncovered identity facets that evolved with their understanding of leadership. The traditional project managers’ common-sense approach to work served as both a barrier and enabler of a change. Project managers …

An Application Of Lewin In A Trans-Pandemic World: A Narrative Inquiry In A Case Study With A Suggested Model For The Future, Chandler Barksdale Ewell Caldwell

Theses and Dissertations

Change is constant in today’s post-pandemic world. This is truly evident in online business success with entrepreneurs that defy past limitations and rely on future vision. This study purposely attempts to identify and qualify the impact of stylized change focused leadership in response to workplace changes during the variant challenges of the corona virus pandemic. The relevancy of Lewin’s organizational change model in today’s new normal provides the foundation for this research. Data were gathered through interview with a purposive sample of 12 managers executives and team members from a public sector organization. Evolving through an iterative process of evaluation …

Explore The Best Organizational Change Model For Chinese State-Owned Enterprises In The Financial Service Industry To Address Global Challenges, Chenyang Feng

Theses and Dissertations

Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) in the financial service industry has reached a tipping point of making changes to address incoming global competition. The unprecedented wave of policy shifts in the market will uncage powerful rivals worldwide and demand the SOEs to change. This study reviewed the best practices and unique challenges to the SOEs in the context of organizational change and strove to explore the best organizational change model for Chinese SOEs in addressing global challenges. This study began by reviewing the background and literature about Chinese SOE development and organizational change, then developed an instrument consisting of critical items …

An Examination Of Leading Through Change Using Snyder’S Hope Theory And Lewin’S 3-Step Model, Scott E. Sorensen

Theses and Dissertations

Never has the world experienced such rapid change, and the environment in which organizations operate necessitates increased change capability and organizational agility (Argyris, 1991). Strebel (1996) found success rates for change initiatives in Fortune 1000 companies ranged from a low of 20% to a high of 50%. Later studies would substantiate Strebel’s (1996) findings, claiming that, on average, failure rates of transformational change initiatives approach 70% (Beer & Nohria, 2000; Sirkin et al., 2005). Suppose this is so, and companies wish to thrive in such a dynamic environment. A fundamental understanding of why change efforts fail and how to drive …

Meaning-Mating And Hyphenated Actualizing In Individual-Organization Units: Lived Experiences Of Organization Development Practitioners Learning And Carrying Out The Philosophy Of Organization Development, Brian Lee Chapman

Business Administration Dissertations

Individuals have been organizing for millennia. The purpose of this study was to investigate what it means for individuals and organizations to each experience how an exposure to the instrumentalized philosophies of one impacts the internalized philosophies of the other. This phenomenological investigation focused on the lived experiences of Organization Development (OD) practitioners with learning and carrying out the philosophy of OD. Individual conversations with six participants during fourteen separate interview sessions were phenomenologically carried out, analyzed, and interpreted. The experiences articulated during these conversations elucidate two concepts not found during the literature review – meaning-mating and hyphenated actualization. These …

Exploring The Leadership-As-Practice Of Middle Managers Engaged In Organizational Changes In An Asia Pacific Multinational Setting, Eric Kung

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

There has been a great need for leadership studies on middle management, particularly in the Asia Pacific context. This study explored the leadership practices of middle managers engaged in leading organizational changes of multinational corporations (MNCs), within the Asia Pacific context. Organization ethnography was used as the research method. The ethnographer observed and analyzed the actual practice of middle managers of a multinational manufacturing company located in China for six months. The findings showed that middle managers played significant roles in communication and execution in leading organizational changes. The study also showed that change management could be a dynamic process …

Systems Thinking: The Organisation As A Living System, Kate Mills

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Systems thinking is a paradigm that challenges the dominant paradigm of linear, or mechanistic thinking. It is a paradigm based on the perspective that everything in a system is inter-connected and interrelated and that the interplay of components in the system creates an emergent quality with its own behaviour and characteristics. Systems thinking as such is suited to be used for analysis of organisations, as organisations can be seen as a system where the interplay of its components create emergent qualities such as the culture of the organisation. Within systems thinking there are living and non-living systems. Living systems, such …

Change From The Middle: A Grounded Theory Approach On Middle Manager-Initiated Organizational Change From A Southeast Asian Context, Marcial Orlando A. Balgos Jr, Emerald Jay D. Ilac

Psychology Department Faculty Publications

Prior studies on the strategic influencing done by middle managers emphasized on a unidirectional sensemaking and failed to explore how middle managers utilized discursive capabilities in engaging stakeholders in change projects. To forward this, we used the Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) theory as embedded within the power distant cultural norms of Philippine society. Using the LMX model as frame, we aimed to understand how middle managers position and navigate themselves to promote change upward in the organizational hierarchy. Respondents for this study were middle managers in small or mid- sized companies reporting to a business unit with subordinates working under them. …

Success And Failure Rates, Factors, And Alignment With Change Models: A Meta-Ethnographic Analysis Of Planned Organizational Change Qualitative Case Study Literature, Diana Mcburnett

Human Resource Development Theses and Dissertations

The literature on planned organizational change contains numerous theories and models proposed and many references to success and failure rates and factors. However, the literature does not currently provide a synthesized body of evidence on such rates and factors and the effectiveness of specific models. The literature was reviewed to provide a brief historical overview of organizational change, evidence on change success and failure rates and factors, and an overview of contingency and paradox theories which provided the theoretical underpinnings for the study. This study provided a meta-ethnographic synthesis of 298 articles reporting qualitative case studies of planned organizational change …

Exploring The Perceptions Of Leaders In Investor-Owned Utilities In California On Managing Organizational Change Initiatives, Maria Liza Legaspi

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study employing in-depth interviews was to identify the strategies and practices executive leaders and midlevel managers of investor-owned utilities (IOUs) perceive are effective in creating employee acceptance and support of organizational change and to identify the supports and barriers executive leaders and midlevel managers perceive as affecting employee acceptance or resistance to organizational change in IOUs.

Methodology: A qualitative research design enabled the capture of deeper thoughts and insights of executive leaders and midlevel managers of 4 IOUs in California. The study delved into the strategies and practices used by IOUs that are perceived …

Involving Patient/Family Advisors And Advisory Councils With Patient And Family Engagement, Cortney D. Forward

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Health care consumers are under-represented in literature when defining patient and family engagement. The proportion of people living longer is rapidly growing. Future research is needed to evaluate which strategies of patient and family engagement are most useful in real-world health care settings for patient and families. The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experiences of patient/family advisors working within patient family advisory councils at an academic medical center in the Midwestern United States. The conceptual framework is based on Greenleaf's servant leadership and Bass's transformational leadership. The research questions examined how patient/family advisors describe patient and …

Strategies For Succession Planning And Leadership Training Development For Nonprofit Organizations, Isaac C. Theus

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many leaders of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) lack strategies to replace leaders who leave the organization. An organization is in jeopardy of survival without an effective leadership development and succession planning strategy. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies NPO leaders use to develop future generations for leadership roles within the organization. Data were collected from face-to face semistructured interviews with 4 executives and 2 directors of a NPO in Texas and a review of documents including organization manuals, organizational charts, the employee handbook, and a management-in-training course. The human capital theory and succession theory were used …

Ne Maquixtia: A Mixed Methods Exploration Of Leaders’ Dispositions And Their Impact On The Organizational Cultures They Lead, Georgina Yvette Garcia

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies: Doctoral Research Projects

The aim of this field-based research study was to explore and examine the importance of leader dispositions and their impact on organizational culture and sustained success. It focused on answering the following research question: What leadership dispositions, whether in education or in business, transcend organizational boundaries and most likely lead to organizational cultures that sustainably impact results and support continuous improvement?

This study spotlights the urgent need for leaders in all organizational contexts to immerse themselves in a profound and meaningful manner with developing greater awareness of the dispositions related to their leadership and the cultures they directly impact and …

Practical Steps For The Utilization Of Action Research In Your Organization: A Qualitative Approach For Non-Academic Research, Paul J. Antonellis Jr., Gwendolyn Berry

Organization Studies and Analytics Faculty Publications

Action research is different from traditional research. Action research is more practice based as it is implementing an intervention to improve a problem. Action research involves collaboration and communication between the researcher and the participants within the study. The purpose of this article is to explain the multi-step process for a non-academic researcher or novice researcher when employing qualitative action research in an organization that is looking to solve a complex issue. The article will explore the action research steps for conducting phone employment interviews within the organization and an example of the process to follow. The outlined steps can …

Qualitative Examination Of Strategies To Overcome Resistance To Change In Lean Manufacturing, Elizabeth Burmester

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Approximately 80% of lean manufacturing program initiatives are abandoned in the first year of implementation. Only 2% of organizations that embark on the lean journey complete it with the results and the sustainability they expected. There is a gap in past research regarding, the leadership strategies organizations can use to overcome resistance to change during lean manufacturing program implementations. The problem in this study was that leaders have limited information to overcome resistance to change when implementing these programs. The purpose of this study was to explore how leaders within manufacturing organizations may overcome resistance to change through leadership strategy. …

Evaluating Key Predictors Of Employee Response To Change In The Pharmaceutical Industry, Otis S. Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study addressed the factors that predict employee response to large-scale change in the United States pharmaceutical industry. When poorly executed, major organizational changes such as mergers and acquisitions are often disruptive and costly to organizations and demoralizing to employees. Although employee responses to change have been studied in several industries, employee responses during change execution in the pharmaceutical industry have not been subject to study. The purpose of this correlational study was to reduce the knowledge gap related to organizational change in the pharmaceutical industry by evaluating key predictors of employee response to large-scale change. The theoretical framework consisted …

The Merits Of Trust In Transformational Leadership, Yonnette Hyman-Shurland

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Trust in transformational leadership is related to motivation, self-enhancement, and positive job outcomes. Trust in the leader-follower relationship, from the perspective of subordinates, has yet to be examined. Trust is considered an important factor when seeking to improve the chances for organizational success and positive job outcomes. The merits of trust in transformational leadership were addressed in this qualitative case study for the purpose of understanding the value of trust in leader-follower relationships viewed from the experiences of subordinates. Interviews were conducted with 30 participants from 2 organizations within the Newton and Rockdale counties located in the state of Georgia; …

A Case Study: Effects Of Operational Model Changes On Firm Performance, Jennifer Leanne Cowles

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This project follows the implementation of a new supply fulfillment model for a service organization. Research findings provide evidence that a change in operating model can result in an increase in firm performance. The purpose of this project is to study a real-life example of an organization experiencing an increase in firm performance based on a change in operating model. The project utilizes historical data of growth and average costs to determine the environment for the current year experiencing the change in operating model. It is determined that this study reveals a decrease of order costs, increase in data integrity …

Exploring Antecedents To Work Engagement And Psychological Well-Being Within A Canadian Provincial Ministry, Kris Ellis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A gap exists in organizational development strategies on why some individuals remain disengaged with their work. This study addressed whether a combination of specific contextual factors could support individuals, teams, and leaders to demonstrate the attitudes and behaviors consistent with work engagement. The theoretical frameworks of social constructivism, the conceptual framework of symbolic interactionism, and a hermeneutic inquiry approach were used to address how individual psychological traits/abilities of employees support work engagement. Nineteen employees of a Canadian provincial government ministry completed an engagement survey, MSCEIT, MBTI, and SDI assessments. They also participated in focus groups. Survey results showed high engagement …

Factores De Riesgo Y Cambios Organizacionales, Un Estado Del Arte Sobre Investigaciones Realizadas En Cinco Universidades De Bogotá, Diana Milena Vallejo Obando

Administración de Empresas

El presente artículo busca mostrar los resultados obtenidos como parte de la realización de un estado del arte sobre las formas en que se han tratado, como tema de investigación, los cambios organizacionales y los factores de riesgo en el ámbito académico de la ciudad de Bogotá. En este sentido se considera como un paso inicial en el camino hacia la generación de conocimiento basado en la descripción, sistematización e interpretación de aquellos resultados que exponen la producción intelectual presentada por grupos de investigación de cinco universidades de la ciudad de Bogotá que, durante el periodo 2004-2014, fueron registrados en …

The Influence Of The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People During A Merger Of A Fire Department And Emergency Medical Services In A Midwestern State : A Single Case Study From 2007 To 2013, Lisa Barnes Greco

Dissertations

Problem. Organizational mergers are difficult and often chaotic at best, fraught with unknowns that can derail the best of plans. In this study, two cultures, fire suppression and emergency medical services, were brought together in order to create a stronger fire department by consolidating resources and knowledge and to appease an ever-tightening municipal budget. How to save the best practices from each side and create a new culture was the conundrum the leadership team faced.

The purpose of this study was to understand how Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People influenced the change dynamics experienced during the …

A Correlational Analysis Of Empowerment And Experience With Resistance To Change, Rita Elizabeth Burgess

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite more than 60 years of research about the nature of change, resistance to change remains a problem across industries. Health care leaders have limited knowledge of how health care managers' perceptions of empowerment, years of experience, and resistance to change (RTC) relate. The purpose for this nonexperimental correlational study was to examine the relationship between empowerment, years of experience, and RTC among managers via an online survey. The theoretical framework incorporated Kanter's structural empowerment theory and Kotter's change theory. The sample included 245 out of 1,181 health care managers from Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals in the New York metropolitan …

Reflections On The Metamorphosis At Robben Island: The Role Of Institutional Work And Positive Psychological Capital, Wayne F. Cascio, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners from South Africa were imprisoned on notorious Robben Island from the mid-1960s until the end of the apartheid regime in 1991. The stark conditions and abusive treatment of these prisoners has been widely publicized. However, upon reflection and in retrospect, over the years, a type of metamorphosis occurred. Primarily drawing from firsthand accounts of the former prisoners and guards, it seems that Robben Island morphed from the traditional oppressive prison paradigm to one where the positively oriented prisoners disrupted the institution with a resulting climate of learning and transformation that eventually led to freedom …

Measuring Normlessness In The Workplace: A Study Of Organizational Anomie In The Academic Setting, Tayo Glenn Switzer

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The dissertation explores leadership and change by examining normlessness in the workplace through a multi-layered study of anomie theory, anomie research in the workplace, and organizational and business management theory. The research validates a quantitative survey designed to measure the level of normlessness experienced by workgroups within an organizational context. The survey reflects a set of six normative aspects that when disrupted produce organizational anomie—a state of normlessness that leads to an increase in worker resistance and a reduction in worker consent. The audience studied in this dissertation is associate professors at a large Midwestern research university. Data were gathered …