Business Commons^™

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

Susan R. Madsen

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.

Innovative Reflection Tools For Developing Leadership For Transformation, Susan R. Madsen, Katherine A. Tunheim

Susan R. Madsen

Since developing leadership is seeded in learning, there is a continuous effort to understand the most effective methods and techniques to assist individuals in becoming leaders. The purpose of this engaging workshop is to offer a variety of innovative tools that both academics and practitioners can use with adult learners in various settings to help them further develop leadership knowledge, competencies, and skills through enhanced reflection experiences. We cannot help create leaders who transform without helping them first be transformed by their own learning experiences. Learning that transforms individuals is learning that changes individuals. Since developing leadership is a transforming …

Responsible Leadership - An Ethic Of Right Behavior, C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

No abstract provided.

Australia’S Dennis Family Corporation, Justin Craig, Ken Moores

Justin B. Craig

This paper details how the Australia Dennis family has been able to professionalize their family business while still retaining their family values and realizing the founders’ vision. We detail how Bert and Dawn Dennis and their four adult offspring decided to amalgamate their associated businesses with the parent company and take on the challenge of professionalizing this new entity. We highlight that, although the four siblings had learnt business, they had to now learn their family business. In addition, the CEO, Grant Dennis, had to learn to lead the business. As well, the Dennis family had to learn to give …

A Longitudinal Study Examining Changes In Students' Leadership Behavior, Barry Z. Posner

Management & Entrepreneurship

This study investigated the impact of a leadership development program in students' first year with the subsequent leadership behaviors of those students in their senior year. Significant changes were reported in the frequency of engaging in leadership behaviors from freshman to senior years. No differences were found on the basis of gender. In addition, significant differences in leadership behaviors were found between seniors who had participated in the leadership development program with a control group of seniors who had not participated. Results supported the impact of a formal leadership program upon students' leadership development.

Learning Important Lessons Of Life And Work From Peter Drucker, C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

In this essay, Pollard reflects upon key lessons he has learned from management theorist Peter Drucker.

The First Steps Toward Developing Leadership Programs For Women In The United Arab Emirates: A Survey Study Exploring The Transformation Of Emirati College Students, Susan R. Madsen

Susan R. Madsen

Developing effective leaders has become one of the most critical challenges for many organizations today, as strong, competent leadership often separates high-performing, successful organizations from less effective ones. In many countries research is being conducted to assist practitioners in designing successful leadership development programs for both men and women. However, in some countries, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), these efforts are only in their infancy, and leadership development for women is a new concept. Needless to say, there is no evidence of existing research on the development of women leaders in that country, and only a few indications …

2009 Applied Projects Organizational Impact Report, Heather Carpenter, Paula Krist

USD Evaluation of Applied Learning Model in Nonprofit Leadership and Management Master's Program

Student learning outcomes and student satisfaction of nonprofit management graduate degree programs have received much attention recently from researchers. However, little research examines the community impact of such programs.

This paper reports findings from a community impact study of the Masters of Arts in Nonprofit Leadership and Management at the University of San Diego. An extensive qualitative study was conducted to determine whether student-led applied projects conducted for nonprofit organizations had an impact on those organizations, and if so, to assess the type and duration of that impact. A key finding was that all organizations that were interviewed for the …

Taming The Monkey Mind, Amanda Sinclair

Amanda Sinclair

No abstract provided.

Critical Thinking, Ronald L. Dearinger

Ronald L Dearinger

Critical thinking analysis is an eight step process to legal decision making that can be applied to ethical business issues. This paper includes a general plan for executing the critical thinking process and a practical application to an ethical issue dealing with a breach of regulation in business protocol within health care administration.

Healers And Helpers, Unifying The People: A Qualitative Study Of Lakota Leadership., Kem M. Gambrell

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

The purpose of this critical grounded theory qualitative study was to explore Lakota Leadership from a Native perspective. Interviews were conducted with enrolled members of a Lakota tribe in an urban setting as well as on the Rosebud reservation to gain better awareness of leadership through a non-mainstream viewpoint. Previously, in order to understand leaders and followers, research limited its scope of discernment to dominant society, implying that non-mainstream individuals will acquiesce, or that differences found are inconsequential. Leadership scholars also have implied that leadership theory is “universal enough”, and can be applied globally regardless of influences such as race, …

The Great Leader Project, James P. Burton

Organization Management Journal

This paper examines a project that has been incorporated into an undergraduate Leadership and Decision Making class. The project, the Great Leader Project, focuses student attention on the fact that effective leadership is not only a function of the specific traits and behaviors of a leader, but also a function of the characteristics of the followers and the leader’s context. In this project, a leader is randomly assigned to a group of students who are charged with analyzing the leader (both in a written report and an oral debate) using the concepts discussed in class. At the end of the …

Emotional Intelligence And Leadership In Organization: A Meta-Analytic Test Of Process Mechanisms, Daniel S. Whitman

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study – employing psychometric meta-analysis of 92 independent studies with sample sizes ranging from 26 to 322 leaders – examined the relationship between EI and leadership effectiveness. Overall, the results supported a linkage between leader EI and effectiveness that was moderate in nature (ρ = .25). In addition, the positive manifold of the effect sizes presented in this study, ranging from .10 to .44, indicate that emotional intelligence has meaningful relations with myriad leadership outcomes including effectiveness, transformational leadership, LMX, follower job satisfaction, and others. Furthermore, this paper examined potential process mechanisms that may account for the EI-leadership …

The Virtue Of Profit (Wheaton, Il - Second Revision), C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

In this second revision of a speech delivered at Wheaton College's Hastert Center (now the Center for Economy, Government, and Public Policy), 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.

Leadership In Partially Distributed Teams, Linda Plotnick

Dissertations

Inter-organizational collaboration is becoming more common. When organizations collaborate they often do so in partially distributed teams (PDTs). A PDT is a hybrid team that has at least one collocated subteam and at least two subteams that are geographically distributed and communicate primarily through electronic media. While PDTs share many characteristics with both traditionally collocated and fully distributed teams, they also have unique characteristics and issues.

This dissertation reports on a field study of PDTs conducted over two semesters with student participants, This research was conducted as part of a larger series of studies investigating PDTs, In these studies, participants …

The Virtue Of Profit (Wheaton, Il - First Revision), C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

In this speech -- a revised version of one delivered at Wheaton College's Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy -- 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.

Using The Worldly Leadership Lens To Approach The Task Of Developing Women Leaders, Susan R. Madsen

Susan R. Madsen

The rate at which globalization has occurred in all types of businesses and organizations has forced researchers and practitioners into considering new paradigms of leadership (Robinson & Harvey, 2008). In fact, Muczyk and Holt (2008) reported that 85% of Fortune 500 executives say that their firms do not currently have enough competent individuals to lead effectively in this kind of global environment. Most (e.g., Livers, 2007) agree that leading globally requires a fundamental shift in terms of thinking and behavior, but to date most researchers and practitioners are focusing their efforts on understanding and developing clearly defined skill set or …

Feminism, Globalism, And Leadership: How Women Make A "Worldly" World, Susan R. Madsen, Scott C. Hammond, Jory Jensen

Susan R. Madsen

The influx of women into leadership, management, and idea leader roles is clearly one of the significant aspects of globalization over the last 50 years. While women are still underrepresented in global business and politics, their influence on reconceptualizing leadership models is undeniable. While it would be difficult to precisely determine a “feminist” perspective on leadership, idea leaders such as Mary Parker Follett, Rosabeth Kanter and Margaret Wheatley have influenced the concept and practice of leadership beyond any gender construct. The unique themes within their work are present in the global dialogue that is reframing how everyone thinks of leadership. …

Book Review 20 - The Tazie Effect By Heather Whittaker, William C. Mcpeck

William C. McPeck

This is my personal review of the book, The Tazie Effect by Healther Whittaker, published in March 2009, by Penn-Tech Professionals.

Preparing For Future Leadership Development Efforts In The United Arab Emirates: Studying The Transformational Learning Experiences Of Women Students In Abu Dhabi, Susan R. Madsen

Susan R. Madsen

To consider designing future efforts toward developing leadership programs for women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it is important to understand how these women learn most effectively. In-depth, qualitative interviews were conducted with Emirati students at a women’s college in the UAE to investigate their learning backgrounds, perceptions, and transformational learning experiences while students. Additional interviews were conducted with faculty and staff to provide insights into many of the issues, challenges, and experiences the students discussed. Since developing leadership is a transforming process, transformational learning theory provided a valuable theoretical lens to guide this study. This paper presents findings …

Developing Leadership Throughout Life: The Experiences Of Emirati Women Leadership In The United Arab Emirates, Susan R. Madsen

Susan R. Madsen

Leadership development for women has recently emerged as an important focus of researchers and practitioners in many countries across the globe. Public, private, and social sector organizations in various settings are now acknowledging the importance of preparing both men and women for strong, competent leadership (Madsen, 2008). During the past decade this topic has also become an important area of research and practice within human resource development (HRD) arena in the U.S. and beyond (Ardichvili & Manderscheid, 2008). However in some countries, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), research on and programs for developing women leaders are only in …

The Virtue Of Profit (Mclean, Va), C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

In this speech delivered to the Workforce Ministry Group of McLean Presbyterian Church (McLean, VA), 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.

Ethical Leadership, C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

Pollard based this speech on an afterword he had written for Scott A. Quatro and Ronald R. Sims, Eds., Executive Ethics: Ethical Dilemmas and Challenges for the C-Suite (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2008). In it Pollard contends that businesses can be moral communities if leaders understand themselves as moral entities, dedicated to the well-being of their employees.

The Value Of Managerial Beliefs In Turbulent Environments: Managerial Orientation And E-Business Advantage, T. Coltman, T. M. Devinney, D. F. Midgley

Tim Coltman

There is a great divide between the degree to which academic research accounts for the role of managerial discretion in firm performance and the weight given by the popular press and financial community to the importance of the management of an organization. The purpose of this paper is to bridge this gap by quantifying the way managerial beliefs influence the quality of firm performance in a turbulent environment based on e-business. An e-business research setting is used that is associated with a situation of environmental turbulence to allow for sufficient variance in managerial beliefs to measure their effect on firm …

How Effective Leaders Learn From Life: A Grounded Theory Study Of The Impact Of Significant Life Experiences Upon Leadership Development, Ryan P. Meers

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

Fifteen effective leaders from diverse organizational backgrounds described their significant life experiences and the impact upon their development as leaders. Using grounded theory methodology, a theoretical model emerged for assisting leaders absorb greater learning from their various life experiences. Related to the central phenomenon of how effective leaders learn from significant life experiences, four causal conditions of types of experiences were identified as influencing how leaders learn: (1) experiences of adversity or loss; (2) experiences of “stretch assignments”; (3) inspirational experiences; and (4) experiences with conflict. Strategies used by the leaders to absorb learning from their significant experiences were active …

The Challenge Of Leading On Unstable Ground: Triggers That Activate Social Identity Faultlines, Donna Chrobot-Mason, Marian N. Ruderman, Todd J. Weber, Chris Ernst

Leadership Institute: Faculty Publications

Today’s leaders face unprecedented challenges in attempting to manage interactions between social identity group members with a history of tension in society at large. Research on faultlines suggests that social identity groups often polarize in response to events that make social identity salient, resulting in negative work outcomes. The current research extends the faultlines literature by examining precipitating events (triggers) that activate a faultline. Qualitative interview data were collected from two samples of employees working in multiple countries to identify events that had resulted in social identity conflicts. In the first study (35 events), an exploratory approach yielded a typology …

Strategic Leadership And Innovation In High Technology Firms, Terri A. Scandura Phd

Management Faculty Articles and Papers

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 …

Affects Of Strategic Leadership On Business Success - A Cross-Cultural Analysis From A Resource Based View, Georg Hirschi, Michael Jones

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper concerns strategic leadership as it functions in businesses today. The research will outline which skills and characteristics are the most important for being a strategic leader. The influence of culture on leadership is also investigated, leading to the examination of the question of whether business strategy affects leadership. The paper links leadership with strategic management and discusses how a successful practice of leadership can help an organization create a unique and valuable market position, assisting the attainment of sustainable competitive advantage. The research demonstrates that strategic leadership is above the operational level of management and that strategic leaders …

Spotlights And Shadows: Preliminary Findings About The Experiences Of Women In Family Business Leadership Roles, Mary Barrett, Ken Moores

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In an earlier study (Moores & Barrett 2002) we found successful CEOs had learned leadership of family controlled businesses (FCBs) in a series of distinct learning phases. Because that study's sample did not include many women, our present study focuses on women in FCBs to better understand how they exercise leadership and entrepreneurship in the family firm context. Case study analysis of an international sample of women FCB leaders, using frameworks which avoid essentialist assumptions about women's and men's approach to leadership, suggests there are some characteristic ways women leaders learn FCB leadership and entrepreneurship roles. We have tentatively labelled …