Business Commons^™

Speaking To The Head And The Heart: Prioritizing Empathetic Communication In The Post-Covid Workplace, Kevin T. Caffrey

Administrative and Professional Faculty Research

As of August 2022, COVID-19 continues to affect our daily lives in physical, psychological, and financial ways. Many vulnerable individuals are struggling to adapt to returning to work and as a result, employee morale is at risk. In times of crises, empathy is needed in the workplace to support one another, but many leaders and employees may not have a firm grasp of the concept. This article seeks to define empathetic communication and explore the need for prioritizing empathy amid the current post-COVID-19 workplace. Through a literature review of empathy, psychological safety in the workplace, and crisis leadership, the author …

Mokṣa, Seeking A Humanizing Way Of Being: I Am Recognized. I Am Acknowledged. I Am Human., Lauralynn Jansen

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation delves into the intricate dimensions of humanization by shifting the analytical focus from denial and exclusion to affirmative aspects of inclusion. The central aim of this research is to unravel the mechanisms underlying the process of humanization, or how individuals perceive and internalize their being recognized as human beings. Employing the critical incident technique, this research methodically examined the lived experiences of a highly diverse group of individuals living with varying social stigmas and how they experience humanization. This research displays the intricate interplay of language, actions, and sensory elements engendered before, during, and after a humanizing moment. …

Breaking The Sound Of Silence: Explication In The Use Of Strategic Silence In Crisis Communication, Pang, A., Yan Jin, Youngji Seo, Sung In Choi, Hui-Xun Teo, Phuong D. Le, Bryan Reber

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Crises present organizations with the “rhetorical exigency” to enact control. Silence is not an option. This study, as the first empirical examination of Le et al’s (2019) seminal study on silence in crisis communication, examines, first, if silence can be strategically used as a bona fide strategy; second, under what circumstances should silence be broken; and third, when silence is broken, how it affects (a) organizational reputation, (b) societal risk perception, and (c) the publics’ crisis information sharing intention. An online experiment was conducted using a nationally representative sample in the United States. Participants were recruited in 2019 via a …

Learning From Experience: Sasah Communications Intern And Osborne Holdings Intern, Andrew Fullerton

SASAH 4th Year Capstone and Other Projects: Publications

I certainly learned about communications as a communications intern, and I certainly learned about copywriting as an intern copywriter at Osborne Holdings. However, what resonates the most with me a year after completing my experiential learning credits are not job-focused skills. Instead, what resonates the most with me are the things I learned about responsibility, valuing my skillset, and leadership.

As an intern with SASAH, I learned that communication is not just a skill; it is a responsibility. I learned this as I ran the SASAH Instagram page through a school year that was cut short because of the COVID-19 …

Priming In Leadership: Applying Communication Theory To The Speeches Of Ronald Reagan, Katherine Sakai

Senior Honors Theses

The study of priming gained traction in the 1990s when researchers such as John Bargh demonstrated the nonconscious activation of ideas, often through repeated related words or activated schema. Since then, researchers have studied the effects of priming on self-view, achievement, and teamwork. While the concept of priming has just recently begun to be applied to leadership in the workplace, no research has yet been done in finding examples of priming theory in the speeches of well-known leaders. In this study, Ronald Reagan’s persuasive tactics were analyzed and found to use similar methods of repetition and schema used in priming …

Video Meetings In A Pandemic Era: Emotional Exhaustion, Stressors, And Coping, Betty J. Johnson

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

In the first quarter of 2020, societal upheavals related to the COVID-19 pandemic included employers’ work-from-home mandates and an almost overnight adoption of video meetings to replace in-person meetings no longer possible due to contagion fears and social distancing requirements. This exploratory study aimed to address, in part, the scientific knowledge gap about video meetings as a source of emotional labor. The study used mixed methods to explore three hypotheses concerning how the contemporary use of video meetings related to emotional exhaustion, stressors, and coping. Data were gathered through an online survey questionnaire. Emotional exhaustion, the dependent variable in the …

Proving Yourself: How Top Executives Relate Their Leadership Experience, Ellen S. O'Connor, Denise M. Lucy

Barowsky School of Business | Faculty Scholarship

We asked 30 top executives (CEOs, COOs, and Presidents) to describe their paths to and in office. Our purpose was to explore how executives practice leadership in the way they discuss their experience. We identified three structures that interviewees used: the full proof, a thesis statement backed by evidence; the narrative plot, a trajectory toward a goal; and the signature story, a defining leadership experience. We argue that structuration proves leadership; that is, full proofs and narrative plots communicate dependability and signature stories convey realism. We also constructed paradigmatic narratives or representative experiences of leadership, which suggest an experiential curriculum …

When Silence Is Golden: The Use Of Strategic Silence In Crisis Management, Phuong D. Le, Hui Xun Teo, Augustine Pang, Yuling Li, Cai-Qin Goh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Purpose: Scholars have discouraged using silence in crises as it magnifies the information vacuum (see Pang, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to argue for its viability and explore the type of silence that can be used. Design/methodology/approach: Eight international cases were analyzed to examine how silence was adopted, sustained and broken. Findings: The findings uncovered three intention-based typologies of strategic silence: delaying, avoiding and hiding silences. Among such, avoiding/hiding silence intensified crises and adversely affected post-silence organizational image when forcefully broken, while delaying silence helped preserve/restore image with primary stakeholders if successfully sustained and broken as planned. Research …

Collaborative Leadership In Action, Maureen Scully, Katie Bates

Emerging Leaders Program Team Projects

The 46 fellows in the 2017 cohort of the UMass Boston Emerging Leaders Program worked with seven community partners on projects of strategic importance to these nonprofit and government organizations. The fellows contribute their professional skills and discover collaborative leadership through practice. The theme of our public symposium is “Collaborative Leadership in Action.” The fellows shared their insights about what collaborative leadership involves – its challenges and benefits – and what they take back to their workplaces.

Leader Behaviors For Sustaining The Implementation Of Lean Methodologies In Multi-National Companies: A Qualitative Case Study, Gary Vance

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Increasing global competition has led many business leaders to implement Lean methodologies to drive operational improvement and deliver increased customer satisfaction. However, not all business leaders have been successful in sustaining Lean implementation with the majority failing within the first three years. In addition, the challenge related to implementing Lean in multi-national companies is exacerbated by the cultural differences associated with the various business units involved. Recent research has suggested that business leaders who have sustained their Lean implementations have utilized specific behaviors to do so. Therefore, this study explored how leaders of multi-national companies utilized specific behaviors to sustain …

7 Tips To Grow Your Rural Business With Purpose And Meaning, Connie I. Reimers-Hild, Alyssa Dye

Community Vitality Initiative Collections

No one can predict the future; however, rural entrepreneurs and business owners can use a future-focused leadership approach, which includes examining megatrends, to shape the future of their businesses. Megatrends are global shifts that influence society, the economy and the environment. The purpose of this article is to help rural entrepreneurs discover ways to grow their businesses with Living with Purpose and Meaning Megatrend.

Become A Future-Focused Leader: Use Three Megatrends To Grow Your Rural Business, Connie Reimers-Hild, Alyssa Dye

Community Vitality Initiative Collections

No one can predict the future; however, rural entrepreneurs and business owners can use a future-focused leadership approach, which includes examining megatrends, to shape the future of their businesses. Megatrends are global shifts that influence society, the economy and the environment. This article discusses three megatrends shaping the future of rural businesses:

1) The Rise of the #GigEconomy

2) Living with Purpose and Meaning

3) The Decentralized Marketplace

The article also provides coaching tips for rural entrepreneurs on how to use megatrends to grow their businesses.

While many companies are struggling to keep up with the rapid rate of change, …

A Review Of Business Communication Under The Leadership Function, Clive Muir

Faculty Publications

An effective way to perpetuate an academic discipline is to identify and to define its intellectual and historical roots, then to set such roots in the foundation textbooks and courses of the discipline. In that regard, Business Communication still struggles to establish its roots when compared to other disciplines in business schools, particularly Management. For this study, we undertook an extensive review of significant scholarly works on Business Communication as a discipline. We discovered there are prevalent themes in the broader context of rhetoric, technology, culture, dissemination, and impression; and this was confirmed by our examining the tables of contents …

How Kaizen Group Leader Selection Affects Group Participation, M. Joleen Byerline

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Organizational communication research indicates group member participation increases as the legitimate power differences among group members decreases. Lean principles and practices indicate Kaizen Event members will contribute regardless of legitimate power levels, due to member training, education, and the Lean team-oriented culture. Further study is needed to determine if Lean culture and training maximize group member contribution, or if legitimate power levels in Lean environments manipulate participation. The focus of this case study is a central Kentucky Lean manufacturing organization that practiced Lean principles for at least three years and completed a Kaizen Event within twelve months previous to the …

A Narrative Approach To Delivering Bad News In Organizations: Effective Or Not?, Michael S. Carriger

WCBT Faculty Publications

Purpose: This paper presents empirical evidence for the use of narrative to deliver bad news within an organization, specifically bad news about layoffs. The attempt is to extend previous empirical work, using narrative by senior leadership to convey corporate strategy, to a different leadership challenge and further explicate a model for understanding the effectiveness of narrative as a leadership communication tool. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper presents further original research on the effectiveness of narrative as a leadership tool. And theoretical implications for leaders seeking effective communication tools are explored. Findings: Data presented to substantiate that narrative use, as opposed to a …

Eat More Chicken And Lead More People: Perceived Measures Of Servant Leadership At Chick-Fil-A, Michael Mishler

Masters Theses

This present study used survey data from 31 employees working at 2 Chick-fil-A locations to assess the supervisor's perceived level of supervisor's level of servant leadership and how the level (a) affects coworker's perceptions of performance, (b) job satisfaction, and (c) relational trust amongst coworkers. The participants ranged in ages from 18-50. The average age for the participants was 26. The data for the study was collected through the distribution of surveys to individuals who currently work at Chick-fil-A. The two selected locations were approximately 300 miles apart in Virginia. The study employed quantitative research methods in order to collect …

Leadership And Innovation Program, Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Presentations and White Papers

No abstract provided.

Leadership Through Storytelling, Clive Muir

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Relationship-Building And Sales Success: Are Climate And Leadership Key?, Clive Muir

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.